Lance Stroll tipped to quit: ‘F1 wasn’t the sport he wanted when he was young’
The now 24-year-old is in his sixth season of F1, after joining Williams in 2017. Pressure has followed Stroll since making it to the elite level of motorsport, due to people feeling he is only in a seat due to his father Lawrence’s wealth. Stroll senior has invested heavily in the teams Lance has driven for, and currently owns the Aston Martin Formula One Team.
“I do wonder, he’s the one driver on the grid that you think ‘you are guaranteed a job as long as your dad is there’. We’ve never actually talked about contracts for Lance Stroll." said Sky Sports commentator David Croft on their podcast.
While his seat is seemingly always safe as a result of his Father, some will argue he has earned his place on merit. Stroll won both Formula 3 and Formula 4 before taking his place in F1, and scored a podium in his debut season, becoming the youngest rookie to do so.
Since then, he’s added a pole position and a further two podiums to his name, all of which coming in his career best season of 2020, when he finished eleventh in the Drivers’ Championship with 75 points.
2023 has seen Stroll handed his best piece of machinery yet, with his teammate Fernando Alonso currently sitting third in the Drivers’ Championship in the summer break. Despite this, Stroll is all the way down in ninth, over 100 points behind Alonso in the same car.
“We’ve never looked at his future elsewhere, but I just have a little feeling that in about a year and a half’s time, Lance Stroll will race his last race in Formula 1 and go off and do something else”, said Croft.
“I just think he’s losing his mojo. I don’t think Formula 1 was the sport he wanted to go into when he was younger.
It’s also worth noting the AMR23’s performance has quite drastically fallen off since the start of the season in terms of performance, meaning Stroll’s best chance at landing big points this season may be behind him. His best performance came at the season opener in Bahrain, where he battled injury to finish a solid P6.
While it had looked to be the start of something good for the Canadian in 2023, Croft feels he has lost his way since then: “I’m not saying he’s not enjoying driving in Formula 1. I think there are times he is, but I think I look at him sometimes and think: ‘You want to be doing something else, don’t you?’
“I want to see the Lance Stroll back that turned up in Bahrain, because I think he’s lost his way a little bit.
“I think he’s lost his mojo, and whatever’s happened, Lance just doesn’t seem to be as motivated now as he was at the start of the season.”
