Why Lance Stroll really could lead Aston Martin's F1 title charge
F1
With a car capable of F1 podium finishes and Fernando Alonso as a team-mate, Lance Stroll's inconsistency has been laid bare this season. But, writes Chris Medland, he's also shown potential that could indicate a winning future
I know that’s a bizarre sentence to say for a 24-year-old who gets to race Formula 1 cars with no real fear of the sack and a family background that also means he could likely pursue any direction in life he wants, but in a sense it’s true.
And it’s true mostly for those exact reasons above. Stroll’s never going to get much sympathy, but he also has to earn respect behind the wheel to a level that negates his situation. Not respect from drivers, but from fans, who understandably find him even tougher to connect with than the other 19 drivers on the grid – the majority of which still themselves come from very comfortable backgrounds.
Stroll also doesn’t make himself that easy to connect with, rarely showing much of his personality. He’s not often one to speak at great length or display masses of emotion, to such an extent that when he took his maiden pole position in Turkey a few years ago, his “I love my job” response sticks out as an unusual display of his passion for what he does.
Stroll judges wet conditions in Turkey perfectly to take maiden F1 pole in 2020
Clive Mason/Getty Images
But heading to Montreal this weekend, he does receive significant support from his home crowd. He’s still a quick, young Canadian racing driver, competing on the world stage and pulling out some big results from time to time.
Stroll also appears to be more true to himself when he’s in his home country. A chance to get out on the ice at the Montreal Canadiens stadium with a number of hockey players back in 2019 had him grinning from ear to ear and revelling in his surroundings, as well as showing off some real skill.
It was the sort of moment that reminds you he’s still a guy who grew up in Canada doing some Canadian things, albeit with far more opportunities than the average person. And when you expand that out, he’s still a racing driver who has to get into a car and practice and practice and practice – again, something he’s been able to do – to hone his craft and become good enough to be worthy of a place on the F1 grid.
Finishing sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix with broken wrists and a fractured toe, Lance Stroll is the latest racer to block out torturous pain rather than miss a race. Here are some of the most incredible stories
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Cambridge Kisby
When Stroll hit something for what felt like the tenth time in Monaco last month – a race he himself admitted he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after – there were some that were calling that worthiness into question. At least, they were asking whether he was going to cost Aston Martin a chance of finishing second in the constructors’ championship given the points deficit to Fernando Alonso.
But again that does Stroll a bit of a disservice. It’s Aston Martin that has done a fair share of the damage in that sense, with Stroll’s car letting him down in the first half of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he had made an excellent start and was again defying the pain of his broken wrists as he looked set to pick up more solid points following his remarkable sixth place in Bahrain.
Then in Miami – the next race he failed to score at – it was the team’s error in not sending its drivers back out in Q1 as the track ramped up that saw Stroll eliminated, and nearly caught Alonso out too.
Monaco is one Stroll has to take on the chin, but then he responded well with an error-free weekend in Spain, another excellent first lap seeing him run third early on after a beautiful move on Lewis Hamilton, before the car’s performance saw him fade to sixth overall, just ahead of Alonso.
Down and out in Monaco...
Getty Images
...but battling Hamilton in Spain
Grand Prix Photo
It’s also true that Alonso could have tried to overtake Stroll in the closing stages as he recovered from his own mistake in qualifying that hampered his chances, and in recent rounds the Spaniard has actually looked like opening up a bit more of a performance gap on his team-mate. But the double world champion is giving Stroll an opportunity that he really needs.
It’s to be expected that Alonso will talk up the son of team owner Lawrence in order to maintain harmony, but also to continue a theme that has been constant during the 41-year-old’s career. Alonso regularly speaks of how good his team-mate is, in turn suggesting he’s doing an excellent job beating them. Stroll isn’t getting much in the way of preferential treatment in that sense.
But he is in a car that is capable of fighting for regular podiums for the first time in his career. Stroll has three to his name but has never had such a competitive machine at his disposal, one that allows him a better chance of displaying his potential than any of the offerings he had alongside Sebastian Vettel.
And it is still potential. Despite 130 races under his belt and now being in his seventh season, Stroll is still just 24. The lessons he can learn from the likes of Vettel and Alonso will be invaluable, but in three years he’ll still be a long way off 30 and with what you’d expect to be significant experience of a front-running car.
Stroll has offered a glimpse of his potential in this year’s car
Aston Martin
It’s not the orthodox, exciting manner in which future race winners often appear, but it is likely to make Stroll an even better proposition. Those three podiums, or the likes of his Turkey pole, or those opening laps in Jeddah and Barcelona this year; they all show those flashes of raw talent that suggest Stroll could well become the driver who “will lead the team for the next 10 or 15 years” according to Alonso.
Let’s be honest, if Stroll was beating his team-mate regularly we’d more than likely be revisiting our opinions on Alonso. But he has got a great chance to prove himself to doubters this year given the car and the benchmark that has been set by the driver on the other side of the garage.
There have been times he’s measured up well, and others more recently when he hasn’t. Having shown he’s capable of the former, it’s all on Stroll to replicate that on a regular basis as this season progresses, and back up the headline results that Alonso will generate, while picking up the odd one of his own.
Consistency is something Alonso can boast as an immense strength, and something Stroll really needs to find. If he does, then that potential is genuinely promising for Aston Martin. If he doesn’t, then that rough deal I mentioned only becomes more justified.
