Of the sixteen Canadians ever to compete in Formula 1, only four have even scored points… and two of those are racing royalty; la famille Villeneuve. Statistically, Lance Stroll is one of the best Canadian drivers ever, and he’s the only Canadian on the grid today.
Racers in F1 tend to have the support of their entire country behind them, irrespective of race results. Red Bull Racing’s driver Yuki Tsunoda is national hero in Japan without so much as a podium. So why doesn’t Lance Stroll get any love from race fans in the true north, strong and free, and why do some believe his time in Formula 1 is almost up?
Is he just not good enough? Well, that’s a mater of opinion, but not all racers are destined to be world champions. Out of the 781 drivers to compete in Formula 1 since 1950, Lance Stroll certainly isn’t the worst, and he’s even had some success in his 8-year career. Stroll took pole-position at the Turkish Grand Prix and had three F1 podiums in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Italian Grand Prix and Sakhir Grand Prix. That’s more than veteran racers like Nico Hulkenberg can boast!
And until this past weekend, Lance had scored all 14 points for the Aston Martin F1 team in 2025. His teammate, fan-favourite Fernando Alonso, had a big, fat zero until those two points he finally got in Spain.
Despite our society being obsessed with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, race fans have reserved the right to be offended by nepotism, of all things. Lance Stroll is painted as ‘daddy’s little boy‘ who’s path to racing glory was paid for by his father. Lance Stroll’s father Lawrence is a billionaire who bankrolled Lance’s rookie seat at Williams Racing, then bought an entire F1 team (out of receivership) and christened it Aston Martin.
Make no mistake; Lance Stroll can drive for Aston Martin as long as Lawrence Stroll remains Chairman of the Board. That is the true love of a father for his son. And it’s sad that people see it so negatively.
Here’s a is a close knit, proud Canadian family taking on the racing world to the best of their abilities. Canucks should be proud that one of us is out there on the international stage, but instead, are just jealous of Lance Stroll and the limitless support from his dad Lawrence.
Shortly after qualifying at the Spanish GP, the Aston Martin team announced that Lance had aggravated a old wrist injury, and would require surgery. The recovery time will force Lance to miss his home race, the Canadian Grand Prix, in two weeks. Rather than being sympathetic, motorsports commentators and websites were enthusiastic about a new driver (like Brazilian racer Felipe Drugovich the Formula 2 Champion) replacing Stroll, even temporarily. That’s harsh.
Un-named sources claim that Lance was so pissed-off after qualifying at the Spanish GP that he started thrashing equipment in the garage, and inadvertently re-injured his wrist. Known as a hot-head, Stroll’s behaviour was called a temper tantrum by the trolls in the Twitterverse, as if Lance was a little kid. Some in the motorsports press believe that Lance’s injury is a golden opportunity for the Aston Martin team to re-evaluate the race seat, to see if there’s another driver could do a better job. But that is just insane.
Sir Lawrence Stroll bought a Formula 1 team in 2018 and legacy brand Aston Martin in 2022 as part of a master plan to have his first-born son ‘live the dream‘ with him. There is a 0% chance that this father would ever give up on his son.
Canadian race fans should put aside their envy and support one of their own competing with the best in the world.