The Editor: Stroll wants his son racing in F1 and an Aston Martin title. Are the two incompatible?

So the constructors’ title returns to Milton Keynes where it will take its place in Red Bull’s towering trophy cabinet that greets visitors to the team’s HQ. It has been richly deserved this season and by the time you read this it seems all but inevitable that it will have been joined by the drivers’ trophy too. Motor Sport offers its hearty congratulations to Max Verstappen and Christian Horner and the whole team: domination has rarely been so total. We also remember Dietrich Mateschitz, the architect of Red Bull Racing who died a year ago this month.

But while the title has been settled, the scrap for the remaining places is starting to heat up. And it is with this in mind that it’s worth rewinding to the beginning of September and the Italian GP, because it was at Monza that Aston Martin slipped from third in the constructors’ championship to fourth, having been overtaken by Ferrari. After Japan, where Lando Norris and the increasingly impressive Oscar Piastri claimed second and third respectively, that place now looks under threat from a resurgent McLaren. Aston Martin are now looking at the very real possibility of finishing the season in fifth.

Granted that would be an improvement on last year when the team finished seventh but in light of their flying start to 2023 where they established themselves as the second- fastest team on the grid, it represents quite a fall from grace.

Partly this can be explained by other teams – notably Mercedes and Ferrari but also McLaren – making the development gains needed to catch up. And certainly this is the official line from the team: “I said after the first three, four races that this is going to be a hard development race and that we are still small and we’re not geared up to fight with the big teams,” said Mike Krack, the team principal, last month. “Everybody was laughing a little bit, but we see that the others are making progress. I think as a team, we can only learn from this and we really need to push hard until the end.”

But there is another reason for the drop-off, and it is one that could have far reaching consequences for the team: the performance of Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence.

As the team slips down the table it is hard not to notice the difference in points scored by the team’s two drivers. As of Japan, Fernando Alonso had scored 174 and Stroll 47. Granted, Stroll has had his share of bad luck this season, and no one is saying he doesn’t have talent – putting a Racing Point on pole in the wet in Turkey in 2020 and leading half the race proved he had that. Plus of course the fact that anyone would struggle when up against a driver of the Spaniard’s proven quality. But the uncomfortable reality remains that Stroll has been beaten by every driver he has been team-mates with apart from Sergey Sirotkin at Williams in 2018.

“Some are starting to question Stroll Jnr’s commitment to Formula 1”

His relative underperformance is not the only issue. Some are beginning to question his commitment to F1. As Chris Medland reported on our website last month, there was some surprise when, after his dramatic crash in qualifying in Singapore, from which he emerged sore but otherwise OK but which ruled him out of starting the race, Stroll didn’t show up for the grand prix. Rival teams, reported Medland, suggested “he should be present and involved on race day after such a costly crash both in terms of the race weekend and financial penalty, at the very least to personally thank the mechanics for their efforts.”

All this puts the team and Stroll Snr in what can politely be described as an awkward situation. Ever since he took control of Racing Point Stroll has made no secret of his aim to win the world championship. To that end he has invested heavily in a new factory, rebranded the team and negotiated an unexpected and potentially game-changing deal with Honda as the team’s engine supplier for 2026. He has recruited a top team, notably Dan Fallows, formerly Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics under Adrian Newey, and Eric Blandin, from Mercedes.

But no amount of investment will compensate for a team hobbled by an underperforming driver.

Stroll Snr is, by all accounts, a man used to getting what he wants. But are the two things he wants most – a son racing in F1 and a world title – mutually incompatible? And if so which one does he choose? More pertinently for Aston Martin, if the team he has built can’t deliver a world title for his son, what does he do with it?

As the 2023 season enters its end phase and all eyes turn to 2024, these questions will become more and more acute. And in many ways the saga at Aston Martin is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing storylines of next year; a modern morality tale of vast wealth, ambition and family loyalty coming up against the unyielding demands of top-level sport.

So while Red Bull’s domination may have taken some of the excitement out of this year’s title race, Aston Martin’s back-stage tensions are a reminder that F1 is about much more than simply what happens when the lights go out.

Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90

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