Aston Martin's Stroll Dilemma: Can Lance Redeem Himself Next F1 Season?
Oct.19 - Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll has leapt to the defence of his struggling and embattled son.
Team driver Lance Stroll was warned by the FIA after being instructed to apologise in writing for violently shoving his trainer in Qatar - following his fourth consecutive failure to even get out of Q1.
According to some specialist media, the Canadian has become a liability to the rapidly-developing Silverstone based team.
"Lance Stroll and the contract with an unjustified duration," remarked Jeremy Satis, a correspondent for the French racing magazine Auto Hebdo.
Indeed, notwithstanding rumours linking Yuki Tsunoda with the seat, Stroll has already been confirmed for the 2024 season - even though he has scored an astonishing 136 points less than teammate Fernando Alonso so far this year.
"When the season is over, Lawrence Stroll's consortium can see in black and white what it cost them to continue living out the chairman's unrealistic dream of making his son a Formula 1 world champion," said another specialist correspondent Jonas Huttel, working for the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
"According to our information, the difference between finishing second and fifth in the constructors' championship is in the order of $40 million," he added.
Auto Hebdo's Satis also said: "Should Lawrence prioritise the future of his team and stop spending money on his offspring?"
According to billionaire Lawrence Stroll, however, Lance has simply had "a lot of bad luck" in 2023 - starting with his "two broken wrists" early on.
"But he really did a heroic job - and he's had an unfortunate amount of bad luck," Stroll senior, 64, told Sky Sports.
"He's had nine retirements due to engine failures, or a rear-wing fail. Half of the races it hasn't been anything to do with his own abilities, he has just had a lot of bad luck, sadly."
Lawrence also said his son will have a much better car to race in 2023, with development progress having stalled in the wake of Alonso's string of early podiums.
"Last year's car was developed in our old factory of 33 years," he said. "Next year's car will be developed on our new campus and it's quite a dramatic change to what we've already had."
Stroll also sounds more than open to keeping 42-year-old Alonso on board beyond his existing contract.
"Anything is possible," said Stroll, the son of fashion importer Leo Strulovitch. "Right now he (Alonso) has a contract to drive for us next year and we're looking forward to that."
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For his sake, I hope he can.
Who cares. 😜
It aint gonna happen... Please give the seat to a guy who can keep up with Alonso! Did you know Alonso is 18 yearsolder than Stroll! He could have been his father!
I do think he's still recovering from his broken wrists and hands. That takes time to heal and get flexible again. Takes at least 1 year.
Lance may have had some bad luck, but some of it Lance brought on himself!
""He's had nine retirements due to engine failures, or a rear-wing fail." The rear wing is probably due to poor design or poor manufacture. However, we don't see Alonso having numerous engine failures, and he's using the same MB engine! It seems to me that Lance is over stressing the engines and having more failures. Apart from that, he just doesn't have the talent or the commitment. His chances of becoming WDC are less than zero.
Daddy bought Fernando to help Lance improve, but I think Fernando has given up on what is a lost cause.
Knuckles has already made his mark in Formula 1 - on tire-barriers and in gravel-traps. His WDC prospects don't register on anyone's scale. In reality, he is the epitome of wretched excess.
No long-term personal goals, no post-secondary education to speak of or real-world experiences to thicken his hide. Formula 1 just happens to be the most glamourous search for meaning in his life, against which everything else pales.
I suspect his next move will be his father's yacht in the Caribbean where he can ponder his future - 'cause it certainly doesn't exist at Aston Martin.
Lawrence will pop a few M in from his personal fortune to keep other investors happy and his lad in the seat , afterall what else will it get spent on
Petez has more than 136 less than Verstappen