Stroll exploited changeable conditions at Monza to qualify fourth and the youngster was promoted to the front row when both Red Bulls took engine penalties. Seventh in the Italian GP, he was eighth in the next two races and sixth in Mexico.
Williams replaced Massa with Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin for 2018 and the inexperienced drivers struggled to develop its disappointing FW41 chassis. Baku and Monza again provided Stroll’s highlights – finishing eighth in Azerbaijan and ninth in Italy.
Switch to Racing Point
His future in F1 was assured when his father was part of the Racing Point consortium that acquired Force India in the summer break. Stroll Jr moved to the Silverstone-based team in 2019 but it proved another fraught campaign. Overshadowed by team-mate Sergio Pérez and rarely able to avoid elimination in Q1, he did finish fourth in the chaotic German GP and qualify ninth in Italy. Stroll scored points on six occasions and was 15th in the final standings.
Stroll achieved his best season in F1 to date in 2020 as he achieved his maiden podium and pole positions. The Canadian might have had a chance of victory at Monza but for a poor getaway on the second race start following a red flag and having led the opening phase of the Turkish Grand Prix, faded in the second half of the race, eventually finishing ninth. Stroll remained with the team as it transformed into Aston Martin for the 2021 season, partnering Sebastian Vettel at the team.
Aston Martin
The journey back to the front of the F1 grid is never a smooth one, a lesson Aston Martin and Stroll has had to learn very quickly. Finishing fourth in the constructors’ standings the year before, the team fell to seventh in 2021 in a season filled with inconsistency. Stroll’s fifth season in F1 got off to a positive start, with a tenth place finish in Bahrain, followed by an eighth place finish at Imola, beating teammate Vettel on both occasions.
But the Canadian would struggle to maintain any consistency throughout the rest of the season, only finishing inside the top ten seven more times and eventually losing out to Vettel in the drivers’ standings.
2022 brought new challenges of its own, with updated technical regulations hoping to provide closer and harder racing between the drivers. Unfortunately for Stroll, his team were unable to provide a car consistent enough to contend further up the grid, finishing the season as the seventh best constructor – narrowly missing out to Alfa Romeo in a fight for sixth. Stroll himself had a handful of standout performances throughout the season, taking sixth place in Singapore and eighth in Abu Dhabi, but was once again outshone by his teammate – finishing 19 points shy of Vettel in the drivers’ standings.
2023 saw Lance Stroll briefly feature at the front of the grid
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2023 began in rather painful fashion for Stroll, as a biking accident during pre-season training saw him break bones in both his arms as well as his right toe. The Canadian missed pre-season testing entirely and, for a time, was tipped to miss the first race of the season in Bahrain. But in a show of commendable determination, Stroll recovered in time to compete and take advantage of a thoroughly developed Aston Martin F1 car.
He qualified eighth — three places behind new team-mate Fernando Alonso, who replaced the retiring Vettel — but rose through the field to finish and impressive sixth. Unfortunately celebrations were rather short lived, as while Alonso continued to take advantage of Aston’s bettered performance, Stroll struggled to replicate the same form.
The Canadian failed to secure a single podium finish over the course of the season — while Alonso scored eight — and only finished inside the top five finishers in Australia, Brazil and Las Vegas. As a result, despite being behind the wheel of competitive machinery, Stroll fell to tenth in the drivers’ standings, while Alonso finished fourth.
2024 told a very similar story. While Aston’s performance took a step backward, Stroll still struggled to match the performance level set by his team-mate. He scored just 26% of the team’s points for the year, failed to score in the final 11 races and dropped to 13th in the drivers’ standings. There were rare highlights, such as a sixth-place finish in Australia and a seventh-place finish on home turf in Montreal, but 2024 was mostly a year to forget.
2025 will see Stroll continue with Aston Martin, which could see its performance bettered by the arrival of Adrian Newey.
