Lance Stroll made a startling admission regarding McLaren’s drivers after he took the unwanted record for the most Q1 qualifying exits in Formula 1 history.
After qualifying 16th for the Saudi Arabian GP was Stroll’s 75th Q1 dropout since debuting in F1 with Williams back in 2017.
The result put Stroll above Kevin Magnussen as the all-time record holder for Q1 exits, an accolade the Canadian would rather leave to the Dane.
Still, like Magnussen, Stroll’s F1 career has largely been comprised of running in midfield or worse machinery, contributing to his record.
This factor prompted an intriguing comment by the Canadian when asked to comment on his newfound record.
“Yeah, Q1, I heard it on the speaker,” Stroll said post-qualifying (via PlanetF1).
“Put the McLaren drivers in the Sauber for 10 years and they will have the most Q1 exits. It’s car-dependent.”
Stroll is right in saying F1 results are largely car dependent, and he has shown when he has competitive car some stronger results are attainable.
However, his reference to Sauber when making his analogy proves peculiar, but perhaps is a measure to protect his team, Aston Martin, amid a difficult start to the campaign.
Stroll’s team-mate Fernando Alonso advanced to Q2 in Jeddah, but nobody is questioning that the veteran Spaniard is the stronger of the two drivers.
In 2020, Stroll had a car capable of top-10 results in the form of Racing Point’s ‘pink Mercedes,’ a doppelganger for the title-winning 2019 W10.
That season saw him start inside the top-10 in 11 out of 17 races.
“When you have fast cars, you save tyres, and you go through to Q3,” Stroll added.
“When you have slow cars you throw a million sets in Q1 and most of the time you go out if that’s the kind of pace you have.”
Alonso backs Stroll to succeed in stronger Aston Martin machines
Stroll felt 16th in qualifying last weekend “was actually our most competitive session of the weekend, but we just need some more pace.”
There’s every hope within the Aston Martin ranks that 2026 will yield a competitive car, designed under the watch of Adrian Newey in the team’s new wind tunnel.
If that’s the case, Alonso has already said he backs Stroll to press on show people what he’s capable of.
“The unlucky thing for him is that he raced with uncompetitive cars for 90% of his career, which I think is brutal for any driver,” Alonso told select media, including Motorsport Week, in Las Vegas last year.
“Lance had uncompetitive cars for many years and he is still happy to keep committing and dreaming of having a competitive car one day.
“This is some of the mission that we all have in Aston Martin as well, to have a competitive car. I don’t know if I will benefit from that, because as I said I will not drive forever.
“But I hope he can have one day a competitive car and change the opinion of many, many people.”
READ MORE – Aston Martin: ‘Very small margins’ between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
