Lance Stroll

From one of the youngest drivers to start a Formula 1 grand prix to being one of the longer-serving racers on the current grid, 2023 was Lance Stroll’s seventh season in F1 having been at his current team since 2019

While his on-track efforts in that time have on occasion been overshadowed by the roving business interests of his father - Aston Martin Racing Chairman, Lawrence Stroll - the Canadian has been able to rise above scrutiny in the years since his much discussed F1 debut.

Starting out with a successful rise through the North American karting ranks, Stroll was inducted into the Ferrari Driver Academy at 12-years old. Spurring him onto pursuing his burgeoning open-wheel career in Europe, he’d peak with a dominant run to title success in the FIA European Formula Championship in 2016 with Prema.

Having already joined Williams Racing’s testing roster in 2015 with a view to securing a race seat in the near future, Stroll’s title success convinced the British squad to promote him directly from Formula 3 for the 2017 F1 season.

2023 

Aston Martin Racing 

10th – 74 points  

Stroll headed into 2023 with another world champion as his team-mate after Fernando Alonso replaced the retired Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. 

This challenged Stroll like never before as Alonso’s driving was in fine form, while expectation levels were now higher for the Canadian because aggressive upgrades over the off-season made Aston Martin a front-runner.  

While Alonso made full use of that with six podiums in the opening eight races, Stroll only scored one top five finish with fourth in Melbourne. It caused people to doubt whether Stroll could reach the level of Alonso having out-qualified him just twice before the summer break.  

It was then made more difficult for Stroll to score points regularly because other teams overtook Aston Martin in the development race, which caused it to drop down the standings. Stroll finished the season with just four points finishes after the summer break which left him 10th in the championship and 132 points behind Alonso in fourth, who ended the year with eight podiums.  

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR22, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

2022

Aston Martin Racing

15th - 18 points

Stroll’s second season in British Racing Green brought hope that Aston Martin could capitalise on radical new technical regulations to rebound up the grid, but the AMR22 proved a handful during the early rounds.

A series of upgrades over the course of the year did their bit to stimulate competitiveness, leading Stroll to a season’s best sixth place finish in Singapore and 15th overall in the standings. 

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR21

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

2021

Aston Martin Racing

13th - 34 points

With Racing Point morphing into Aston Martin Racing upon Lawrence Stroll’s purchase of the historic British marque, Stroll was joined by four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel in the rebranded team.

Keen to build on the success of the previous season, Stroll struggled to find the sweet spot of the AMR21, which was blighted by aero issues early on in the season.

Reaching the points in nine of the 22 races, Stroll’s best finish of the season was nonetheless limited to his run to seventh at Monza, consigning him to 13th in the overall standings.

Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP20, 3rd position, crosses the line to the delight of his team

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

2020

Racing Point F1 Team

11th - 75 points

A second season with Racing Point saw Stroll receive his most competitive package yet with the controversial but quick Mercedes W10-inspired RP20.

Stroll capitalised with points in seven of the opening eight rounds, among them a run to fourth in the Hungarian Grand Prix and a third place finish in the Italian GP at Monza for his second career F1 podium.

He also achieved his first pole position after prevailing in a wet qualifying session in the Turkish GP. He’d go on to lead the race for 32 laps before dropping back late on, before concluding his season with another podium by taking third in a Sakhir GP won by team-mate Sergio Perez.

Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP19

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

2019

Racing Point F1 Team

15th - 21 points

Having been left unimpressed by Williams’ dip in competitiveness the previous season, Lawrence Stroll’s search for a new investment opportunity led to him stepping in to save the ailing Force India team from collapse mid-way through the 2018 season.

Rebranded Racing Point with Stroll installed as chairman, Lance subsequently joined the Silverstone-based team for the 2019 F1 season.

Sizing up against experienced team-mate Perez, Stroll endured a low-key campaign, cracking the points on just six occasions, with qualifying proving a particular bugbear for the Canadian as he failed to make it out of Q1 for the first ten rounds of the season.

Even so, it was Stroll that delivered Racing Point’s best result of the season with his run to fourth place in a wet and wild German GP.

Lance Stroll, Williams FW41

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

2018

Williams Racing

18th - 6 points

Staying with Williams for a second season, Stroll’s campaign was hampered by a car that was comfortably the slowest package on the 2018 F1 grid.

Breaking into the points on just two occasions in Baku and Monza - thanks mostly to the strength of the Mercedes V6 Hybrid power unit negating the FW41’s handling deficiencies - Stroll’s highlights were limited to out-scoring his rookie team-mate, Sergey Sirotkin.

Lance Stroll, Williams FW40, is greeted by his mechanics at the finish

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

2017

Williams Racing

12th - 40 points

With just three seasons of open-wheel racing under his belt and still only aged 18, Stroll’s F1 debut with Williams generated plenty of publicity ahead of his debut.

Taking over from another Williams protege-turned-driver in Valtteri Bottas, Stroll appeared to struggle with the pressure of his promotion initially, committing clumsy errors during pre-season testing and the opening rounds that called into question whether he wasn’t ready for F1.

With his difficulties magnified by a Williams package that wasn’t nearly as competitive as it had been in recent seasons, Stroll nonetheless steadied nerves by scoring his first F1 points on home soil in Canada before going on to steal the headlines next time out with a sensational run to the podium in a chaotic Azerbaijan GP.

Dodging drama around him, Stroll ran as high as second into the final lap, only for Mercedes’ Bottas to out-drag him on the run to the finish line. Despite that, third place made Stroll the second youngest driver to stand on the rostrum at 18 years and 239 days.

Growing in confidence as the season progressed, Stroll cracked the top 10 on five more occasions and became the youngest driver to start an F1 race from the front row after shaking out second on the grid for the Italian GP.

He ended the year 12th in the overall standings, just three points shy of experienced team-mate Felipe Massa.

Lance Stroll F1 Racing Record