Lance Stroll could soon opt to exit the Formula 1 grid because he’s “losing his mojo”, believes commentator David Croft.
Stroll is currently in his seventh F1 season and races for the Aston Martin F1 squad, which is owned by his father Lawrence.
However, he is currently being heavily out-performed by team-mate Fernando Alonso, who is 102 points ahead in the Drivers’ Championship at the halfway mark of the 2023 campaign.
Alonso has also taken six podiums so far this year, while Stroll is yet to score a single top-three finish.
Stroll was commended at the start of 2023 for racing in Bahrain only days after suffering a bike accident that left him with fractured wrists and a broken toe.
But he has been unable to keep up with Alonso during the year.
“I want to see the Lance Stroll back that turned up in Bahrain, because I think he’s lost his way a little bit,” Croft told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“I think he’s lost his mojo, and whatever’s happened, Lance just doesn’t seem to be as motivated now as he was at the start of the season.
“I do wonder, he’s the one driver on the grid that you think: ‘You’re guaranteed a job as long as your dad is there’, and we’ve never actually talked about contracts for Lance Stroll.”
Croft believes that Stroll will seek a challenge elsewhere in the near future and depart the F1 grid.
“We’ve never looked at his future elsewhere, but I just have a little feeling that in about a year and a half’s time, Lance Stroll will race his last race in Formula 1 and go off and do something else,” he added.
“Because I just I think he’s losing his mojo. I don’t think Formula 1 was the sport he wanted to go into when he was younger.
“I mean, he was a massive tennis talent when he was younger, one of the best youngsters in Canada at the time, and I just wonder if he might go off and find something that fulfils him more and brings more excitement to him.
“I’m not saying he’s not enjoying driving in Formula 1. I think there are times he is, but I think I look at him sometimes and think: ‘You want to be doing something else, don’t you?’
“And I think his dad will realise as chairman as well that it’s a business and I need two drivers. So, if he’s not getting the results, I think an easy decision is made.”
