As his antics on the formation lap in Brazil continue to garner widespread ridicule, a very basic question has to be asked: Does Lance Stroll deserve to be in Formula 1?
The Sao Paulo Grand Prix featured the latest and most high-profile gaffe of Stroll’s career, attempting to rejoin a soaked track via a gravel trap and beaching his car, actively ignoring the tarmac available.
It is an indictment of his driving standards, an action that drivers at grass-roots level motorsport know is an embarrassing one-way ticket back to the paddock and the potential end of your career.
But it was the Canadian’s reaction to his spectacular poor driving that angered so many fans and F1 pundits. Those listening to team radio will have heard a nonchalant Stroll say: “Yeah, I’m beached”.
The incident itself is bad enough, but when analysed with the additional context of Stroll having his car rebuilt by his team after a clumsy qualifying crash just hours before, his radio message showed colossal disrespect to Aston Martin.
Standing in the media pen and pinning the blame on brake failure was a desperate move, and even then, he had the face of someone who did not care. In which case, why is he in F1?
An attitude unbefitting of F1
To reach the F1 paddock, a driver must have self-belief, a knowledge that they can win races, and be the best in the sport, with only the car holding back, unleashing their true potential.
Some go as far as to believe they own the place, and in cases like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, this is justified, given their achievements during their tenure. Stroll has a different kind of attitude. When looking at his behaviour, we see a self-entitled driver who believes he deserves to be World Champion but loses focus when his car is not competitive enough.
The Thursday FIA Press Conference in Sao Paulo perfectly encapsulated the gulf in attitude between one of the sport’s best and Stroll. Cameras caught Hamilton looking over at a dazed Stroll who clearly wanted to be somewhere else, while Hamilton just smiled.
Many different thoughts could have occupied him at this point, but he most likely wanted to be back in his hotel playing Minecraft on his laptop or phone. That he could not keep his concentration up for a duty which the media admit must get tiresome, is highly unprofessional, indicating a damning lack of commitment.
But this is just one example of Stroll’s declining attitude towards F1. The F1 Finnish F1 journalist and broadcaster Mervi Kallio admitted in 2022 that interviewing Stroll is far from her favourite pastime thanks to his apathy towards the sport.
In a blunt assessment, she said: “In those situations, he seems quite arrogant. He comes to the interview with a listless attitude. It’s embarrassing because he doesn’t seem to want to show any part of himself or even be there.”
But it is Kallio’s final remarks that are the most intriguing, as well as the most damning: “It seems like he’s not interested in other people at all. He’s got it all, but can he appreciate it? Does he even enjoy being in Formula 1?”
He seems bored out of his mind and is not showing any indication of enjoying F1 this season. More professional drivers would hide this, but Stroll does not need to worry about consequences, given his situation at Aston Martin.
A Jekyll and Hyde early career – from a helpful father
Reaching F1 is a goal every young driver dreams of. Yet Stroll seems to be disconnected from his very privileged surroundings.
But his career is very much a case of Jekyll and Hyde in terms of competitiveness combined with attitude.
His record in F1 is not stellar: In 163 starts, he has taken one pole position and three podium finishes. He was set to become Canada’s most experienced F1 driver had he not parked his car in the gravel in Brazil.
When looking back at his debut for Williams in 2017, aged 18, a solitary podium in Baku masked a truly terrible year. Mistakes were rife, and the pace was disastrous. His arrogance after his podium finish in subsequent races created the delinquent we see today.
But Stroll brought precious funds to Williams at a time when it began to implode from lack of finance. Remaining with the team for 2018, he scored just six points, as a poor car prevented him from making any real impact.
However, his tenure on the F1 grid became permanent when his father, Lawrence, bought the Force India team, rebranding it Racing Point. Lance arrived in 2019 on a permanent rolling contract. Perez dominated the owner’s son, scoring 52 points to Stroll’s 21.
2020 proved to be the most controversial year. The team effectively copied the 2019 Mercedes car, a decision that transformed its fortunes. Once again dominated by his team-mate, Stroll secured two podiums and a front-row start. But Perez went one better, he took the team’s first victory.
The decision to boot out Perez at the end of the year for Fernando Alonso rather than Stroll went down with F1’s fandom like a lead balloon.
2020 remains Lance’s best season, and he obviously believes that it is his right to experience this result every year, but not by working with his team. The consequence-free decisions in reaction to his poor driving galvanised an arrogance that few drivers can match.
Aston Martin: A dysfunctional family affair
2021 saw the final piece of the Stroll family puzzle fall into place. Lawrence bought the Aston Martin car company and rebranded the team to reflect this. Essentially, he had bought a car company and a team for his son. This has not helped his son’s image, as Lance has driven for a team owned by his father since 2019.
Watching Stroll “race” against Alonso has been like a child attempting to race an adult at a primary school sports day. Alonso is searingly fast, cunning, hungry, and motivated; Stroll has demonstrated in recent years he possesses none of these qualities.
The team’s second car under the new ground-effect era of cars presented him with a golden opportunity to show his speed and driving quality in by far the best car of his career. In the hands of Alonso, the AMR23 was the second-fastest car in the early stages of 2023, with three consecutive podiums in the first three races.
Stroll, meanwhile, never finished on the rostrum. His performances were so poor compared to Alonso that it cost the team third place in the Constructors’ Championship. While Alonso scored a competitive 206 points, Stroll ended the year on just 74. The team dropped to fifth by the season’s end.
The prize money loss due to Stroll’s poor performance is astronomical, likely in the tens of millions of dollars. The Canadian would have been booted out of the team in any other scenario. But Aston Martin is a family affair, and Lance is free to keep putting in as many underwhelming performances as he wishes.
The press conference called by Lawrence in the summer to announce the arrival of design genius Adrian Newey once again spoke volumes of his son’s commitment. Lance was first up on the stage and again looked like he’d prefer to be back in his room playing Minecraft. Focus immediately shifted to Alonso for the remainder of the event.
Lawrence can hire as many top staff as he wishes to make his son a World Champion, but this is only worthwhile if his son is on board with the venture. All the world can see this, while he seems wilfully ignorant, at least on the surface.
Is his racecraft up to scratch?
Driver fortunes in racing can sometimes be up to the gods. Drivers may not have a choice in whether they finish the race. A crash here, an engine failure there, but the need to utilise the particular skillset they possess to maximise results is critical. Tyre management, defensive and attacking driving, tactical thinking, and team leadership make up the fabric of a racing driver.
World Champions need to have an extension of these qualities and use them to propel a team forward. The greats all do this. Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna, and Nigel Mansell had searing speed that their rivals struggled to match. Alonso and Alain Prost are known for their tactical abilities. Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, and Sebastian Vettel are revered for taking their tyre management, defensive driving, and team leadership to another level.
Stroll does not belong in the same category as the above. Not once in his career has he thought tactically about his race, and his duelling ability, more often than not, will end up with him and or his opponent with car damage. His self-imposed crash in Jeddah during the early phases of the race was particularly embarrassing. He attracts the ire of top drivers in practice sessions for blocking and rarely defends against a rival in a race.
His pace will disappear if his car is not up to scratch, and he will then be usually found tailing around at the back. The Singapore Grand Prix this year is just one example of this. While Alonso reached Q3 and finished eighth, Stroll was eliminated in Q1 and finished 14th out of 18 cars. The difference in driver quality aside, the car was clearly capable of better.
A driver of quality and intellect would have put a brave face on proceedings after the race and said he would work with the team to rectify the issue. But all Stroll does in situations like this is lament a lack of pace.
He has never shown any evidence of leading his team. Team principals have been forced to defend his driving for years, but even that is beginning to wear thin. When Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack was asked about the apparent “brake failure” in Brazil, all he could say was the issue was “unexpected”, but he still did not corroborate his driver’s story to the media.
Does Stroll deserve to be in F1 in 2025?
The likes of Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire, Marcus Armstrong and Callum Illot have all missed out on F1 opportunities in recent years.
The heat is on Stroll to convince F1 he deserves to be in the sport.
Aston Martin Reserve and Development Programme driver Drugovich must be despairing at watching Stroll in the second seat, wondering what he could do if allowed to prove himself. But sadly, he will never get this. Instead, a driver who believes the world owes him everything and can rock up and drive an F1 car on a weekend will continue to be in one of only 20 F1 seats.
The apathy that Stroll is demonstrating towards F1 now is unacceptable. His arrogance is getting worse, and his sense of entitlement is unbearable. But he will never work with his team to move himself forward. That is his biggest failing.
Without question, the best staff, power unit and facilities will transform Aston Martin in the next few seasons: 2026 and 2027 look set to be very exciting for the Silverstone-based squad. But Stroll threatens to be a massive fly in the team’s exquisite ointment.
A genuine possibility exists that Alonso or a similar calibre driver will be fighting for pole position and race victories while the Canadian quite literally strolls around the back of the grid. The damage to Aston Martin would be unprecedented in this scenario.
Stroll needs to either buck his ideas up and understand he will not advance in F1 without a change in attitude or let a hungry driver of quality get their shot in the world’s top motorsport series.
His father is in an impossible position. Keeping Lance at Aston Martin risks reputational damage to the car brand and his own professional integrity. Kicking him out shows he does not believe in his son.
Lance will have to want to walk away from F1 willingly for the situation to be salvaged with any dignity. This is unlikely given the salary from his father, lifestyle, and job security. No wonder his Minecraft game occupies him at press conferences.
