Lance Stroll had a season to forget in the 2023 F1 season as he not only failed to replicate his teammate Fernando Alonso’s form but also failed to help his team with points in the Constructors’ championship. This brought up a sense of negative reaction from the public on Stroll and many were calling to sack the young Canadian driver for the betterment of the team. However, Eddie Jordan once advised his father Lawrence Stroll to never sack his son despite the criticism, long before Stroll Jr.’s 2023 performance.
Speaking about this, Jordan, a former F1 team boss said, “I hope not” when David Coulthard asked if Lawrence Stroll could drop his son for lack of performance in the Formula For Success podcast back in March 2023. Following this, he goes on to reveal how the young Canadian is a “real deal“, thanks to his junior days’ performances.
Jordan’s statement has come primarily because of Stroll’s talent which gives him a perfect position to drive in a top team. The 25-year-old had a brilliant rise to the top and was the champion of the Italian F4 Championship, Toyota Racing Series, and European F3 Championship before getting to F1 in 2017.
Cut to 2023, Stroll Jr. only managed to score 74 points this season and finished in P10 in the driver’s championship. Whereas Alonso scored almost three times of his haul. The Spanish driver claimed 206 points and eight podiums driving the same car and was one of the best drivers of 2023.
Aston Martin finished in P5 in the Constructors’ championship despite having a really good chance to be the second-best team on the grid. Still, the team members are calling the 2023 F1 season a success.
Could Lance Stroll have bettered the 2023 season for Aston Martin?
Aston Martin started their year in a magnificent way where they claimed three back-to-back podiums in the first three races. They were P2 in the standings for quite some time and were regarded as the second-fastest team.
However, things changed as the season went on. In the end, they finished in P5 in the standings. Despite this, Fernando Alonso, the star driver of the team, and Mike Krack, the team principal called this season a success.
With Alonso’s performance this season, the British team finished two places ahead of their 2022 haul [P7]. This is what urged the Spaniard to say that this year has been his best season since 2012 when he went head-to-head against Sebastian Vettel for the world championship.
However, given the huge gap in performance between Stroll and Alonso, Aston Martin left a lot of points on the table. Had Stroll been scoring more points relative to Alonso and maybe got some podiums, the Silverstone team may not have fallen to P5 after being P2 in the initial stages of the season.
As for Krack, he said the season was not a disappointment even after they fell off the order. “There’s no disappointment, you need to be realistic about where you are,” Krack said as per PitDebrief.
Nevertheless, the upcoming 2024 F1 season would be much harder for them to replicate this season’s performance as the competition is about to get very high. With McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes’ rise to the top, both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll need to fire to have any chances of finishing in the top 3 next year. Therefore, the 2024 F1 season would be the ultimate test for Lance Stroll’s talent and Lawrence Stroll’s patience in Aston Martin.
