Rushing through the ranks
Lance's successes in karting immediately put him on the map for major teams in the premier class. Ferrari included him in their junior programme (Ferrari Driver Academy) and the Canadian competed in two formula championships in 2015: Formula 3 and the Toyota Racing Series. The first year in Formula 3 was disappointing with only P5.
Nevertheless, Lance Stroll remained loyal to the Prema Power team, with whom the Canadian also managed to win the Italian Formula 4 championship in 2014. In 2016, Stroll got a second chance and won the Formula 3 title! A feat that catapulted him straight into Formula 1.
That came at a price, though: prior to that season, the driver from Canada announced he was quitting as a development driver at Ferrari to move to the Williams team. All ties with the Maranello team were cut, but this allowed him to make his F1 debut at a young age.
Williams era
After the 2016 season in Formula 3, the time has come: Paddy Lowe of Williams announced the then still very young Stroll as a replacement for Valtteri Bottas, who left for Mercedes. Felipe Massa stayed on for another year to teach the Canadian a thing or two. It was a difficult season, but his absolute highlight was in Baku, where he finished in third place.
In 2018, Williams' car (the FW41) was poor and Stroll struggled to score points. Veteran Felipe Massa left and newcomer Sergey Sirotkin had little to teach Stroll. Frank Williams' Formula One team finished in last place with seven points, with Lance Stroll responsible for six of those.
Stroll takes over Force India
In 2019, Stroll got the desired move to a competitive team (Racing Point), after his father Lawrence Stroll bought the team. There, however, he himself at times ensures that people continue to label him as a 'pay-driver'. The son of the boss comes up well short of the experienced Sergio Perez and even managed to finish behind Williams in several races.
In the 2020 Formula 1 season, he again lost out to Perez, but he started to get some positive results. Two podiums and a pole position on a slippery Istanbul Park at the Turkish Grand Prix are the highlights.
Stroll and Vettel at Aston Martin
Racing Point was renamed Aston Martin in 2021, and he was joined by four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. The pressure to live up to the team's famous name and keep up with the four-time world champion was high, but Stroll proved he could hold his own.
Lance Stroll in 2024
Even in 2022, Stroll generally lost to Vettel, who scored twice as many points as his younger teammate. In 2023, Stroll faced an even bigger challenge: Fernando Alonso became his teammate and had the upper hand. The team achieved eight podiums in 2023, all made by Alonso. Overall, Stroll scored more than 100 points less than the two-time World Champion and will need to close that gap in 2024. Stroll received plenty of criticism at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix. The Aston Martin driver crashed into Daniel Ricciardo's rear during the first safety car period. The Australian had to retire from the race.
