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Rosberg: Aston Martin must change line-up if Stroll doesn't improve

Lance Stroll has long been part of the Aston Martin set-up, but Nico Rosberg believes changes must be made if he is unable to improve his form.

2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg feels that Aston Martin must think about changing its driver line-up if Lance Stroll is unable to improve his form. Stroll has struggled for speed alongside Fernando Alonso this year, with the latter securing seven podiums for the Silverstone-based squad. Alonso currently sits 123 points ahead of Stroll in the standings, who has finished inside the top five just once in the first 14 races. Stroll’s performance compared to Alonso has resulted in criticism for the Canadian driver; however, his seat is not in immediate danger. Lawrence Stroll, Lance’s father, currently owns the team and is unlikely to fire his son from the team.

Rosberg calls on Aston Martin to take action

But speaking to the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Rosberg states that Aston Martin must consider the possibility of parting ways with Stroll if he can’t offer more significant contributions. "It’s fundamental [to score points consistently]," he said. "I’m not really sure what's happened to Lance Stroll because he's a very decent driver and he showed at the beginning of the season how he can stay close to Fernando. "When Fernando was third Lance was fifth or sixth. So I'm not really sure what's happened to him there. "He’s really in a difficult phase now and I think long term for Aston, they can't really allow themselves to have one driver who's that far off. "So either Lance gets back to where he can be and where he should be, or they're going to have to start thinking about changing things around there with the second driver. "Fernando needs to be pushed. The setup work is much better when there are two drivers who are on it, it has a whole different dynamic so it's very important to have two drivers who are very quick."

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