Coming into his sixth Montreal home race, Lance Stroll’s dedication to Formula 1 remains firmly intact despite recurring questions about his long-term ambitions. The Canadian driver continues to bat away any doubts about his commitment.
Lance Stroll has always been a polarizing figure in the world of Formula 1. As the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who has supported him with top-tier equipment since his early entry into F1 in 2018, Lance was destined to face public scrutiny. With only 20 seats available in F1 and many skilled drivers vying for a position, Stroll’s uneven performances and his reluctance to engage with the press have only fueled the criticism.
Whenever the lively driver market for 2025 is discussed, there’s an unspoken understanding that the second seat at his father’s Aston Martin team is secure. The Aston Martin project is very much rooted in the Stroll family’s ambitions, and as long as Lance desires it, that seat is his. But does he still want it?
One might think that spending eight years in F1’s midfield would dampen his enthusiasm, but Stroll insists otherwise. He believes in the future of the team his father is building at their new Silverstone headquarters and doesn’t want to miss out on the potential success coming with the 2026 rules reset and the Honda works partnership.
“It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come as a team the last five years since we were in pink colors,” he said. “We have an incredible facility that we moved into last year. There are a lot of pieces of this puzzle that have been coming together over the last few years. Along with the talented people that have been in Silverstone for many years, a lot of new talented people have joined and are joining, which makes this project very exciting. We’ve gone from a team that had 350, 400 people in 2019 and now we’re pushing the number of 1,000 people. So, I’m definitely committed and excited to be a part of this project. In my mind, I’m definitely here for the future, that’s where my head is at.”
Critics argue that Stroll’s performances, characterized by genuine yet inconsistent speed, don’t always reflect the Aston Martin’s true potential. The 2024 supertimes matrix, which measures raw pace based on the fastest single lap by each driver at each race weekend, shows Stroll’s average gap to teammate Fernando Alonso at 0.233 seconds. This is actually closer than the gaps between other notable teammates like Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, or even Carlos Sainz.
However, standings don’t lie. Stroll has only 11 points heading into his home race, a third of Alonso’s tally. Much like the questions surrounding Sergio Perez’s Red Bull contract extension, there’s a clear conflict between Aston Martin’s goal to win the constructors’ championship and Stroll’s ability to consistently deliver the necessary points.
Despite this, Stroll maintains he is “the most competitive person I know” and hates underperforming. “I like to see myself perform super well,” he explained. “I’m the first person that’s hard on myself when things don’t go well and I’m still as excited and happy as ever when I have a great day, since the last seven, eight years that I’ve been in Formula 1. That feeling is still driving me to keep pushing, to keep going and yes, I hate having bad days, just like I’m sure everyone does in this paddock, absolutely.”
His resolve was evident at the start of the 2023 season when he returned from a cycling accident to finish sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite driving with two broken wrists and a fractured toe. In a sport where performance trumps personal agendas, Stroll may always face questions about his place, not that it seems to bother him. Moments like his resilience in Bahrain speak louder about his motivation than any PR statement ever could.
Lance Stroll is here to stay, fully committed to his role at Aston Martin and excited about the future. Whether he can silence his critics remains to be seen, but his determination is unquestionable.
Source: Motorsport
