Lawrence Stroll invested a huge amount of money to help his son Lance realize his dream of competing in Formula 1.
When people talk about pay drivers in F1, Stroll’s name always comes to everyone’s mind. The Canadian driver had a good junior career, finishing P1 in Formula 4 and Formula 3 before entering F1. However, his father Lawrence paid a lot to help his son out.
Stroll’s first team in F1 was Williams, and his father bought shares of up to $10 million in the British team. However, long before that, even when Stroll was competing in junior categories, his father had a huge influence over his results. Of course, it was Stroll who did the hard work and won races, but his father paid a lot to make sure he always had a team at his disposal to cater to his every need.
The Aston Martin driver also had a state-of-the-art simulator at his home from a very young age. When he was in F3, Lawrence Stroll bought shares of Prema, his son’s team. All of this made Stroll’s journey to F1 a lot easier compared to the ones who didn’t have similar resources available.
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Lawrence Stroll owns the F1 team where Lance drives today
Back in 2018, long time Silverstone-based outfit Force India went into administration. It was Lawrence Stroll who saved the outfit and their workers’ jobs when he bought them out. Subsequently, he rebranded them as Racing Point for a couple of years before changing it to Aston Martin. The team’s name was changed to Aston Martin because Lawrence had acquired majority shares in the British car company.
However, just a few months after the Strolls bought team Silverstone, they let go of then driver Esteban Ocon to make way for Lance. This was seen as a very unfair move by any. More than Stroll not being talented, this was about him getting an unfair advantage, just because his father owns the outfit.
Lawrence Stroll 🗣 “It shows my belief in the team, confirms my ambition and confirms my belief in F1”#F1https://t.co/us7BjnfdbO
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2021
Stroll is still with Aston Martin today, and spent the last two seasons with Sebastian Vettel as his teammate. The four-time World Champion will retire at the end of the year, and Stroll’s new teammate for 2023 will be Fernando Alonso.
Also read: Sebastian Vettel will continue working with Aston Martin even after his retirement in 2023
Aston Martin boss tips Stroll to give Alonso a run for his money
Fernando Alonso is a two-time World Champion. The Spaniard is currently 42-years-old but still shows no signs of slowing down in terms of performance. He still has the desire and hunger to win races and Titles. This is why people feel that the Canadian will be comprehensively defeated by Alonso.
However, team principal Mike Krack does not think so. Krack insists that people underestimate the 23-year-old a lot, and feels he will give Alonso some tough competition.
