Unfortunate Luck or Lack of Skill? Stroll's Formula 1 Future in Doubt
Jun.2 - Fernando Alonso has leapt to the defence of his struggling teammate Lance Stroll.
Stroll, 24, is the son of Aston Martin's team owner Lawrence Stroll - but he has not looked impressive in the same 2023 car that Alonso has steered to five out of a possible six podiums so far this season.
"It's time for Lawrence Stroll to cut the cord with Lance," Auto Hebdo's Julien Billionette wrote.
"His father says he doesn't intend to settle for second best in Formula 1, so it's too bad that he's always seeing that his team can only rely on one car."
Iltalehti's Janne Palomaki agreed: "The full potential of Lance Stroll has already been revealed. The Canadian will never become world champion.
"What is most worrying is that Lance's pace seems to be fading at the rate that Aston Martin's results are improving."
The Canadian driver, however, thinks he's just been unlucky.
"I think it's just how it goes," Stroll said in Barcelona. "There's good weekends and bad weekends.
"So, yeah, see how it goes," he added ahead of the Spanish GP weekend.
With more to say about the situation is 41-year-old Alonso, who many regard as a kind of master to the apprentice Stroll in 2023.
"Lance was extremely unlucky this season," said the two-time champion.
"In Bahrain he drove one-handed and was damn fast," Alonso added, referring to Stroll's early-season wrist injuries.
"In Jeddah he was ahead of the Ferraris when the exhaust broke. In Miami they gambled too much in Q1 where they wanted to save a set of tyres. In Monte Carlo he damaged his car on debris from a McLaren in qualifying.
"I don't think it's fair to criticise him for that."
Alonso indicated that the criticism of Stroll is just part of the "negative" environment in F1 - like criticism of Aston Martin's race strategy in Monaco as he drove to a season-best result of second place.
"It was not a good decision in retrospect, but it was at the time," Alonso said. "We don't have a crystal ball.
"That's what I don't like about Formula 1 - that it seems we always only highlight the negative things. It is also very easy to give your opinion from the couch.
"Imagine that we had stopped immediately for intermediates - then we'd only be talking about Red Bull's wrong decision to let Max stay on the slicks for a lap too long.
"That's what they'd say - not that Aston Martin was very brave. Now there is always someone not doing well and that's what is criticised."
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Let's face it, Lance is only driving in F1 because because his father has paid many millions of dollars to put his son's bum in a racing car!
Stroll's father Lawrence paid $80 million to Williams prior to his Formula One debut.
Stroll switched to driving for Racing Point team for the 2019 season after the team was bought by a consortium of investors led by his father Lawrence. Stroll continued to drive for the Racing Point team in 2021 as the team rebranded to Aston Martin.
Lance is certainly not WDC material, he is but an also-ran. Alonso was being very kind in his comments about Lance's performance at Monaco. I lost count of the number of incidents in which Lance was involved! Subsequently he failed to finish.
Luck, but in any case, he won't get sacked or relegated to a reserve role, etc.
Lawrence has to be disappointed with his son’s results. Lance has been rumored to be lazy. His performance shows it. Yes, he has had some bad luck, that’s racing also reflects his lack of interest or maybe lack of drive. He may feel too comfortable with his seat because daddy owns the company mentality. Sort of like the former Russian driver. Very spoiled and very entitled. May be time for Lawrence to have a father-son chat. It’s business, Lance, nothing personal.
Moot point, Susan. Dad owns the team. As long as Lance keeps saying "yes sir" he gets to drive. A bit of a dilettante, no doubt, but wealth does have its privileges, and Lance has demonstrated a reasonable level of competence and at least a polite disposition. No comparison to Mazespin. IMO, it's nice to see some Canadian $$$ in F1 and Lance is part of the package. Emphasis on IMO.
Lance may not be the natural talent of a Verstappen, Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Senna, Stewart or Clark but he is a very capable driver with persistence and determination and ability to learn the car over time, much like Graeme Hill and his son Damon. He has had a spate of bad luck which seems to cascade in any endeavor. He does seem like he is persisting through it though. As far as whether he can win a championship, I think he could if the stars aligned. Can he beat Verstappen? Not without an advantage in the car package which could materialize as AMR is getting very close to RBR in performance, making small steps each race.
How on earth can you compare Lance Stroll with Graham Hill? Graham Hill was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in 1962 and 1968 as well as being runner up on three occasions. Hill is the only driver ever to achieve the Triple Crown ~ winning at Monaco (on 5 occasions), winning the Indianapolis 500 and winning the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Lance Stroll isn't even in the same district as the other names you mentioned, never mind in the same street!
He has had a spate of bad luck, but more significantly, he has had a bigger spate of bad driving!
Well said Kenneth
He regularly gave Vettal a run for his money.
Lance has a nice disposition granted but that doesn’t win championships. Wealthy people like Larence Stroll don’t like losing money or losing in general either, they won’t stay wealthy for too long. I’m sure Lawrence is an indulging father but for how long? Alonso can only do so much mentoring. Lance has been in F1 long enough to know what it takes to improve.
Hard not to like (and understand) the Stroll story. Sure, the young man will not be WDC, but AM will likely pay off in a big way for the family based on the current trajectory. I expect Lance’s future is more in the family business vein in a few years. For now, a father can do the best for a good-natured son and they get to create a lifetime of memories. Sure, completely out of reach for the vast majority, but that doesn’t make it a bad thing.
My former son in law, was raised in similar circumstances. Handed everything, wasted time and a lot of money. However, whatever happy memories were made, turned into a lifetime of nightmares for a lot of people
Yes, privilege doesn’t work out for some people.