In a sport as competitive as Formula 1, if a driver isn’t good enough, they’re replaced. There’s too much money at stake to keep an underperforming driver. As a result, we have the best 20 drivers in the world… enter Lance Stroll.
Lawrence Stroll aka a very wealthy Canadian man, owns the Aston Martin F1 team. For the previous 8 years, he has purchased his son Lance Stroll a seat on the grid. An 8-year span is longer than most drivers’ whole F1 careers, with this in mind, Lance must have performed well enough to keep the seat.
In reality, for most of these 8 years, Stroll has been moving backwards. Yes, over his 150 race starts Lance has achieved a few notable merits. However, his positive showings are drowning in a sea of poor performances.
Let’s dive in.
2017
Debuting for Williams and driving alongside an established Filipe Massa, Stroll had a decent rookie season. Williams was still a strong midfield team at this point with a powerful Mercedes engine. Including a P3 podium in Baku, Lance tabs up 40 points to Massa’s 43, finishing P5 in the constructors.
Not bad for a rookie, the future is looking bright.
Massa P11 43 Points 2 DNF
Stroll P12 40 Points 5 DNF
2018
Williams’ car was poor and uncompetitive due to a bad aerodynamic package. Lance beat teammate Sergey Sirotkin 6 points to 1.
Nothing to shout about.
Stroll P18 6 Points 3 DNF
Sirotkin P20 1 Point 3 DNF
2019
Lance moved from Williams to Racing Point after his Father purchased the team. Lined up against Sergio Perez, the Mexican showcased his talents while outlining Stroll’s flaws. In response, Lance snatched a P4 in Hockenheim, Racing Point’s highest finish of the season. For the most part, Stroll struggled to maximise the car.
Perez P10 52 Points 2 DNF
Stroll P15 21 Points 3 DNF
2020
In 2020, Racing Point unveiled their car, dubbed “The Pink Mercedes,” which closely resembled Mercedes’ 2019 championship-winning car. The season saw Sergio Perez achieve two podium finishes, including his maiden F1 win. Lance Stroll also grabbed 2 podiums and a pole position. However, Stroll was unable to convert his pole position into a win as he dropped down the order to P9, somehow finishing behind Perez.
Perez P4 125 Points 2 DNF
Stroll P11 75 Points 5 DNF
It’s worth mentioning that Racing Point chose not to renew Sergio’s contract and decided to let him go at the end of the 2020 season. In a picture-perfect middle finger ending to his Racing Point career, Perez won his first Gran Prix in his final race for the team.
After being outscored by 81 points over 2 seasons, you’d assume Lance would be shown the door, not Sergio Perez.
2021
This season saw Racing Point rebranded as Aston Martin, with Sebastian Vettel brought in for Sergio Perez. Stroll performed reasonably well in terms of points considering Vettel is a 4-time world champion, although Lance consistently performed poorly in qualifying. Sebastian grabbed a podium in Baku, whereas most of Stroll’s points came from Hard tyre management after starting from the back of the grid.
Vettel P12 43 Points 4DNF
Stroll P13 34 Points 3DNF
2022
Deciding to keep the same driver lineup, 2022 saw Stroll again lose out to Vettel this time by a larger points differential. Despite a poor car, Lance did string together several-point finishes.
Sebastian Vettel hangs up his gloves at the end of 2022.
Vettel P12 37 Points 3 DNF
Stroll P15 18 Points 3 DNF
2023
A new year and a chance to revive his reputation, Lance Stroll was partnered up with Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Fernando is a 2-time world champion and a straight-up dog. One of the greatest drivers inside and out of Formula One. Despite being 41 everyone expected Alonso to outperform Stroll.
Hot out of the gates, Aston Martin proved to be the second-best car on the grid. An impressive start with 6 podiums in the first 8 races, all trophies taken home by Alonso. Stroll’s best finish came as P4 as he barely managed to score points in many races, despite driving a car which was fighting for podiums.
Alonso outscored Stroll by 132 points throughout the season. Disregarding previous years, the 2023 season alone is unacceptable and simply idiotic. This had to be Lance’s final F1 season, right?
Nope, Lawrence Stroll has completely lost the plot.
Aston Martin finished 5th in the constructors’ standings after a decline in performance during the development race. Despite the poor end to the season, if Aston Martin had an actual F1 driver in the seat instead of Lance Stroll, they could have secured P2 or P3 in the championship.
To put the above into perspective, the final position that an F1 constructor finishes in determines the amount of prize money they receive. The estimated prize money for finishing in second place in 2023 was $131 million while finishing in fifth place would earn $104 million. Sacrificing a potential $27 million just to entertain your son is an appalling display of wealth.
Alonso P4 206 Points DNF 2
Stroll P10 74 Points DNF 4
2024
As we are still in the early days of the season, we cannot analyse 2024 as a whole. Although after crashing into the back of Daniel Ricciardo in China while under the safety car, I repeat, under the safety car, 2024 looks bleak for Lance Stroll.
After round 7
Alonso P9 33 Points DNF 0
Stroll P11 11 Points DNF 1
Eat The Rich
In conclusion, over 7 seasons Lance Stroll has scored 268 points to his teammates’ 507.
He is 1/7 in teammate head-to-head.
150 starts and 26 DNF. Almost 1/5 of his races are not finished.
If Lawrence Stroll did not have an endless stream of cash, Lance may have not driven in F1 at all. Although driving a strong rookie year, he would have lasted 3 seasons at best before dropping out of the sport.
Unfortunately, with money comes power and the sad reality is talented drivers aren’t getting a real shot in F1 because of this. Mick Schumacher, Liam Lawson, Filipe Drugovich, heck even Nicholas Latifi at this point.
The stats speak for themselves, give someone else the seat.
Image Credit: Deposit Photos
