You can build the most impressive factory and fill it with all the latest equipment and computer software. Construct the most sophisticated in-house wind tunnel, boosting the potential of your team’s development rate. You can hire the most successful F1 designer of all time, paying him £30 million a year to design your cars.
But it doesn’t matter one bit if the biggest weakness in the whole of the operation is the person responsible for delivering the results on track.
Lance Stroll’s formation lap blunder at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix was evidence enough that if Aston Martin is deadly serious - as would seem by Lawrence Stroll’s considerable financial investment in the team’s new Silverstone factory - about becoming world champions, then an urgent rethink about its driver line up is required.
Stroll clipped his AMR24 into the Interlagos wall on the formation lap. Afterwards, in the media pen, he explained how he “had a huge rear lock” and hinted at a “brake failure problem”. Maybe so, and yes, he could also blame the heavy rain, standing water or even the uneven, bumpy surface, which he didn’t.
What is totally inexplicable is not the fact he hit the barriers (as he also did in qualifying), but his bewildering decision to turn his Aston Martin around and drive straight into the gravel, beaching his car so that he would not be able to start the race.
Such an error could be understandable from Oliver Bearman or even Franco Colapinto, who have not even raced in a handful of grands prix yet. But Stroll, somewhat incredibly in itself, has knocked up 163 starts across eight seasons.
You could even argue that had he even been driving for Sauber and sat at the very back of the grid, yes, it would have been embarrassing but tolerable. But this is Aston Martin. If you believe the hype, potential world champion in the not-too-distant future.
Stroll sits 13th in the drivers’ championship, having been marooned on 24 points since the Hungarian GP in July when he was 10th. By way of a benchmark, his team-mate Fernando Alonso is on 62 points.
In his intra-team battle with Alonso since the start of 2023, the two-time F1 world champion has outscored the Canadian in 35 races, while Stroll has done the reverse just 10 times.
This is not just a trend with Alonso either. In his first season in F1 with Williams in 2017, Felipe Massa edged the battle 13 to seven. At Force India/Racing Point, Sergio Perez was 26 to 11.
To his credit Stroll, who did win the Italian Formula 4, Toyota Racing Series and European Formula 3 titles to earn his place on the grid, shaded the team-mate battle against Sergey Sirotkin at Williams in 2018 and did in fact beat Sebastian Vettel during their spell as team-mates at Aston Martin, although whether Vettel had checked out or not is a moot point.
There have been flashes of promise. Stroll took his maiden podium at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and repeated that feat twice in 2020, at the Italian and the Sakhir GPs. The same year, he took his lone F1 pole at the Turkish GP, which he led for 32 laps. But the reality is the 26-year-old cannot deliver on a regular basis and is still prone to some inexcusable mistakes - as last Sunday proved.
Then there is his attitude to F1. Stroll’s future in the world championship has long been questioned. It was not that long ago that rumours began to surface that he was considering a career in tennis - something that he quickly dismissed as pie in the sky. But there has always been the widely-held suspicion that his heart is not really in it.
Something more unsavoury was his behaviour at the 2023 Qatar GP where, angry at being eliminated from the first qualifying session, Stroll appeared to push his trainer out of the way in frustration. It did at least show some passion and you could use that to argue that he does care about F1.
To his credit, Stroll showed guts to return to race in Bahrain last year just two weeks after breaking his wrist and toe in a cycling accident. Overcoming the pain barrier, he finished sixth. But last year he scored just 74 of Aston Martin’s total of 280 points.
Yes, he is the owner’s son, but Lawrence Stroll is an accomplished businessman. So how is it possible that he is willing to ignore the glaringly obvious fallible part of the team? Presumably, his focus is on just how the team that started so positively in 2023 has again managed to take steps backwards with its development to limp over the line.
Aston Martin has rolled out the red carpet for Adrian Newey in the hope his designs can bring a revival of fortune. And it is not just Newey who has been signed, with Lawrence Stroll also recruiting other big names such as Enrico Cardile, who will join as Chief Technical Officer from Ferrari. Former Mercedes AMG HPP Managing Director, Andy Cowell, has taken the position of Group CEO, replacing Martin Whitmarsh in an expensive reshuffle.
Scrutiny will be on the aerodynamic design team and just what is going wrong. But there is a more obvious problem and, while it might be an uncomfortable one, it is looking increasingly like Stroll needs to take his son out of the cockpit if the team is to make good on its potential.
In fact, it might not even prove to be that painful a decision in the end and there is an option that could even save face. Aston Martin is entering the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar class with its Valkyrie prototype and Stroll would be well-suited to switch codes and pilot it.
His experience in F1 would be a vital asset in Aston’s fledgling Hypercar project, and provide another perspective currently missing from its stable of GT drivers. It has the potential for considerable success, considering how Ferrari integrated ex-Sauber F1 racer Antonio Giovinazzi into its successful Le Mans project with the 499P LMH.
So who could Aston replace him with? It appears to have missed out on the glut of young talent that has surfaced this season with Bearman, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Colapinto all signed to long-term deals. The team is also poised to miss out on Formula 2 championship leader, Gabriel Bortoleto, who is set to join Sauber next season.
Aston’s current reserve drivers are 2022 F2 champion Felipe Drugovich and Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne, both easily capable of filling Stroll’s place in the team. Another option could be Yuki Tsunoda, given that Honda will become Aston’s engine partner in 2026 and the Japanese driver’s chances seem limited at Red Bull.
