A year ago, Lance Stroll arrived at his home Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal driving an Aston Martin car that ranked second on the grid behind the all-conquering Red Bull. This year, he’s simply hoping to score a few points.
“I think for sure this year, the car is not as competitive as we want it to be,” said Stroll. “Last year, we were often in positions for top-5s and podiums, especially at the beginning of the season.
“This year, I think we were quick over one lap at the beginning of the year — we suffered a little bit more with [tire] degradation, but we were still kind of in the top-5, top-7 range. Now, we’re kind of scrapping for a point or two on a good weekend, which is not what we want as a team.”
While he hopes that the predicted rain might help him this year, that scenario definitely didn’t play out last year. Stroll started 13th in the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, after being caught out by rain in qualifying, and only managed to climb four places in the race to cross the line ninth.
That result came after a compromised start to Stroll’s 2023 season that saw him miss pre-season testing due to injuries suffered in a cycling accident. Unfortunately, Stroll’s delayed start and lingering injuries meant he couldn’t get the most out of the car for the first half of the season and, by the time he hit top form, the rest of the field caught, or surpassed, Aston Martin.
The immediate goal this year remains working to find more speed in the car, something that the injury last year didn’t always make possible.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to try a lot of things in the car,” said Stroll. “I changed a few things in the car that I like more this year and I improved a few things with my driving. I’ve been working on this a little bit since last year and early this year — little details and things.”
One detail Stroll needs to work out remains his contract, which runs out this year. With his father Lawrence at the helm of Aston Martin, a sure bet would be seeing Stroll stay at the team with newly re-signed teammate Fernando Alonso.
“He’s two-times world champion, he has a lot of experience and he’s been here for a long time,” said Stroll. “And, I think since he started in the team, we’ve all had a good relationship.
“We’ve learned a lot in the last year, or 18 months. I think we’ve really improved as a team, even if the performance isn’t there. Now, we just have to understand the things and the decisions we’ve made in terms of development. I’m trying to adjust a little bit for the second part of the year.”
Traditionally, Stroll finds success at home, scoring points in four of the five Canadian Grands Prix he’s started. A first-lap accident, not of his doing, ended his 2018 race almost before it started.
A massive downpour an hour before the first Friday practice left the track wet when the session began. While it started on time, the pit exit stayed closed for about 20 minutes while the safety car and medical car did laps to clear some water.
Lando Norris of McLaren topped the first session, with a time of 1 minute 24.435 seconds, followed by the Ferrari pairing of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Stroll ended up 17th. Second practice saw the drivers getting in dry laps before the rain returned. Alonso went quickest, with a time of 1 minute 15.810 seconds, with George Russel second in the Mercedes and Stroll rounding out the top-3.
Defending Canadian Grand Prix winner and reigning world champion Max Verstappen experienced an off day, ending the first session in fifth before being forced out of the second session, just before the halfway point, with mechanical issues. He ended the second practice in 18th.
