Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Suzuka, 2025

Looking purely dispassionately at the championship standings, Lance Stroll sits on the same points tally as team mate Fernando Alonso during this summer break. But that never tells the full story.

Has he had luck and timing on his side? Certainly. But it also serves to demonstrate he can seize an opportunity and keep out of trouble, especially in tricky conditions.

No one could make the case he is close to a match for Alonso on pace in either qualifying or grands prix. By Silverstone, Stroll had spent an entire calendar year being out-qualified by his team mate.

In the races, tyre management has often been Stroll’s key shortcoming. He has therefore tended to perform slightly better in the occasional sprint races but had more difficulty in the grands prix, such as at Suzuka where he was the only driver to make two pit stops and finish off the lead lap.

However being hard on his tyres has arguably played on his favour during most of this year’s wet races, where he has scored the majority of his points. He pitted at exactly the right moment to take slick tyres at Melbourne as he was struggling for pace on his damaged intermediates. Still, give credit where it’s due: He still had to cope with slick tyres on a damp track, which he did, and Alonso had already crashed out earlier in the same race.

Similar situations unfolded in the sprint race at Miami and the grand prix at Silverstone. In the latter case his team told him they were keen to avoid pitting for slicks in the early phase of the race, but he chose to as his tyres went off, and benefited on the drying track. He then pitted immediately for intermediates when the rain returned and leapt ahead of Alonso to his team mate’s obvious frustration.

Lance Stroll

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However when his tyres aged Stroll fell victim to other drivers, and not only the ones likely to pass such as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen but fellow midfielders Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg – the latter going on to finish on the podium, which illustrated what was possible on the day.

Stroll also tends to get involved in unnecessary incidents, often involving him failing to leave sufficient room for other drivers. His bizarre collision with Charles Leclerc in practice in Monaco was a clear example.

As is often pointed out, Aston Martin is his father’s team and there appears to be no question of him losing his drive. The points situation makes the gulf between them less glaringly obvious than usual and it remains to be seen how far that will change over the remaining races.

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