The Pit Straight: It's Time to Talk About Lance Stroll

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Aston Martin F1 Team began the year solidly second-best to the all-conquering Red Bull RB19, but as the 2023 Formula 1 season wore on, it has become clear that its rivals Mercedes-AMG, Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren Racing are winning the development race. Of its 230 points in the constructors’ standings, good enough for fourth place at the moment, Fernando Alonso has earned 183. Just 47 belong to Lance Stroll.

Stroll entered F1 as a teenager in 2017 amidst allegations that have followed him his entire career: a popular belief that he’s only in the sport due to the wealth and connections of his father, clothing magnate and car collector Lawrence Stroll. That reputation seemed solidified after the elder Stroll purchased the assets of Force India in mid-2018, rebranding as Racing Point and dropping Esteban Ocon for his son at the start of 2019.

But with Lawrence’s purchase of a controlling stake of luxury automaker Aston Martin in 2020 and subsequent rebranding of and reinvestment in the team, an impending engine partnership with world champions Honda, and resumed Le Mans Hypercar project, Aston Martin — that is, Lawrence Stroll, has a choice to make about his son’s future at the team, and indeed, in F1.

About the author

Jack Swansey

Jack Swansey primarily covers open-wheel racing for Frontstretch and co-hosts The Pit Straight Podcast,but you can also catch him writing about NASCAR, sports cars, and anything else with four wheels and a motor. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars.

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