Lawrence Stroll has heavily invested in Lance Stroll’s Formula 1 career. So much so he has literally purchased 23% shares in Aston Martin and brought them to the sport.
Now, along with Fernando Alonso, his son Lance is driving to compete in the F1 championship. The Canadian business tycoon apparently has a massive belief in his son’s ability as an F1 driver and has spent a fortune to get him here.
Business F1’s February edition revealed some of the acts made by Lawrence only to ensure Lance got into F1. In one of the instances, he organized a camp in Florida while partnering with Ferrari, only to give the Aston Martin star his first racing experience.
$20 million to give Lance Stroll some real racing experience
According to Business F1, in 2014, Lawrence invested $20,000,000 to allow Ferrari to organize a non-championship racing competition called Florida Winter Series. The cars were quasi-Formula 4 with Tatuus chassis and were run on Fiat engines.
This series was arranged to give Lance his first single-seater racing environment without any pressure. Before this, the Canadian race driver was only involved in karting.
Meanwhile, even Max Verstappen also flew all the way from Europe to take part in this. For the Dutchman, it was also his first single-seater experience. However, unlike Lance, Verstappen decimated everyone on his way and soon fetched the attention of Red Bull.
The thumping F4 championship win in $700,000
That same year Lance participated in the Italian F4 championship. And Lawrence ensured his son got the best resources among everyone. By splashing $700,000, Lance got to race with Prema and got the best car on the grid. The normal F4 budget is no more than $200,000. But Lawrence was serious.
In return, Lance returned the investment by winning the championship with seven race wins. With this achievement, the Canadian businessman was sure he could push his son’s career into F1.
In 2017, Lance debuted with Williams and even got a podium in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Next year, by taking over Force India, the father-son duo now eye to make the rebranded team- Aston Martin, a contender for the world championship.
The trajectory is right, with Alonso fetching three podiums for them in the last three races. But the destination is far, and competition ahead is tougher than ever.
