When Lance Stroll was announced to be signing a contract extension with Aston Martin, it came to the surprise of absolutely nobody.
While the 25-year-old’s performances over the last two seasons have hardly been those of a driver deserving a seat in one of the top five teams on the grid, it does not seem to matter. Almost certainly, the fact that Stroll’s father is the chairman of Aston Martin provides him unparalleled job security.Entering his second season alongside his much older, much more experienced and, seemingly, much faster team mate Fernando Alonso, Stroll did not enjoy a particularly strong start to the season. After kicking off his campaign in solid style with a point in tenth behind Alonso in Bahrain, Stroll hit the inside wall at the fast left-hand kink of turn 22 twice over the Jeddah weekend, putting an unceremonious end to time in Saudi Arabia while Alonso finished fifth.
Japan was another poor round. He was eliminated from Q1 while Alonso qualified in fifth and was simply far slower than his team mate on Sunday. In a race without damage or any major setbacks out of his control, Stroll finished a minute behind Alonso in the same car. Things did not improve next time out in China either, as once again he was not on the level of Alonso over the weekend, failing to record a point but managing to earn a penalty for running into Daniel Ricciardo under Safety Car.
Lance Stroll
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 8 (x2) | 16 |
| GP finish | 6 | 17 |
| Points | 23 | |
While Stroll’s worst performances came at the start of the season, he also continued to frustrate in Monaco, where he punctured his own tyre by clipping the barrier at the harbour chicane. He was then lucky to avoid a serious penalty for an unacceptable incident of aggressive driving towards Lewis Hamilton in practice in Barcelona.
But it would be wrong to suggest it has been all bad for Stroll so far in 2024. In fact, his weekends at Imola and the Red Bull Ring were genuinely strong, making excellent work of his strategy in Imola to climb into the points from 13th with a long opening stint before showing up Alonso again in Austria with another solid weekend despite Aston Martin being well out of contention for points. His trio of rounds in Austria, Britain and Hungary were all decent and he appeared to be carrying genuine momentum into the summer break, only for him to end up being the only driver in the field to crash around the wet Spa-Francorchamps over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.
If Stroll can resume the final ten rounds of the season in the same kind of form he went into the summer break with, then he has a strong chance of rising in the rankings by the end of the season. But if continues to have sloppy moments behind the wheel, like he had too often at the start of the season, then he will continue to be seen as one of the worst performers on the grid.
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HUHHII (@huhhii)
6th August 2024, 8:11
Harsh. I would’ve placed at least Zhou and Ricciardo behind him. Probably Magnussen too
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th August 2024, 8:24
I too don’t think Stroll should be this low. If Alonso is in the top 10 now, it will be way too high in my view. In the last 8 races (a third of the season), Alonso has only scored 17 points vs 16 for Stroll. While Stroll should have given the place back in Hungary, Alonso did benefit from two points given to him when Russell was disqualified.
The fact that Stroll and Alonso have looked matched for over half the time from what we have seen so far makes this ranking seem a little low for Stroll.
slowmo (@slowmo)
6th August 2024, 9:26
Alonso will be too high because he is always overrated and never deducted points for a bad performance unlike many other drivers on the grid.
Ben
6th August 2024, 15:21
+1 I’ve said it on multiple “Driver Ratings” articles that they seem all over the place this year. So far this looks like it’s following Mr Will Woods averages which would put Hamilton in around P15 in this list! Let’s see if that British bias kicks in, or if that’s only reserved for Russell.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:07
“Always overrated.” There is a massive contingent on this site with an irrational hatred for Alonso. It’s both sad and amusing.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:11
Alonso has suffered from way more bad luck, highly questionable stewarding, missing out on half his Q3 runs due to incompetent strategists, etc. and you’re talking about “benefiting” from an extra two points. What a joke.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th August 2024, 19:21
A great deal of the time in Q3 he hasn’t done many or any runs due to lack of tyres he was saving for race day. And it is a fact that he did benefit from those two points. Points all count. My point is that is wasn’t anything extra that he did that he did in that race to deserve those two extra points so it was in that instance lucky.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 23:57
I wouldn’t refer to times he didn’t get a Q3 run due to new tires and the point was that he lost many points lost due to bad luck, team incompetence, etc. So, citing 2 whole extra points from GR’s DSQ is misleading at best whether or not it was your intention.
His luck has been so bad that over the last three races in a row alone Alonso got no new tire run twice during Q3 due to events outside of his control and one compromised:
-Silverstone: sent out too late to get a lap and he, Sainz and Piastri were all racing each other and using battery to try to make the line in time which ruined all their laps. Stroll got plenty of time and still didn’t out qualify him.
Hungary: Tsunoda triggered a red flag during his run on new tires in Q3.
Belgium: Probably didn’t change anything, but the brief yellow lost him a tenth.
On the opposite, Lance has been given lots of help by Alonso and always been put out into clear air. FA was used to dummy competitors into early stops in Monaco and Imola allowing Lance to run in clear air and get into points scoring position (though he blew it in Monaco), AM had Alonso hang back to slow down Yuki + give him dirty air in Canada so Lance could catch up and get by him and in Silverstone, he benefited from coming in the lap before it got too wet, which put him ahead of Fernando.
And yet still Alonso is more than doubling Lance’s points.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
6th August 2024, 8:33
Yes, harsh.
notagrumpyfan
6th August 2024, 10:01
He would only rank behind those others if including the performance of Stroll Sr in not developing the car in line with the other teams.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th August 2024, 14:32
Agree. I would rate Lance as a bottom 3 driver for every season in his entire F1 career to date, but this season Zhou should probably beat him to the bottom 3.
I think this is Lance’s strongest season to date… being 4th from the bottom is more than anyone expected of him.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:27
It’s a pretty inexplicable ranking. If his name wasn’t Stroll, it’s unlikely he’d be this far down. Ricciardo has been solid. The field is just mostly quite good with only Zhou, Perez and Logan being clear stinkers and even Logan should be above Zhou considering he’s been within a tenth of Albon in 5 of 6 weekends since getting equal equipment.
So, yeah, this ranking is quite awfu. No way Magnussen or Zhou or possibly. Gasly has also been very weak and not sure what Bottas has done that is much better either.
Lando will be ranked near the top by mere dint of his car. Alonso would be doing a far better job and need no excuses like Lando for why he can rarely do anything with pole or special from the front two rows. But here come the dedicated FA haters to tell us to ignore our eyes and how FA is “the most overrated driver in history,” which isn’t a great argument for their favorite driver which usually happens to be Lewis (who deserves his plaudits, but has far fewer here constantly bashing him).
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:29
It’s a pretty inexplicable ranking. If his name wasn’t Stroll, it’s unlikely he’d be this far down. Ricciardo has been solid. The field is just mostly quite good with only Zhou, Perez and Logan being clear stinkers and even Logan should be above Zhou considering he’s been within a tenth of Albon in 5 of 6 weekends since getting equal equipment.
So, yeah, this ranking is quite senseless. No way Magnussen or Zhou or possibly. Gasly has also been very weak and not sure what Bottas has done that is much better either.
Lando will be ranked near the top by mere dint of his car. Alonso would be doing a far better job and need no excuses like Lando for why he can rarely do anything with pole or special from the front two rows. But here come the dedicated FA gaters (the h word is not allowed) to tell us to ignore our eyes and how FA is “the most overrated driver in history,” which isn’t a great argument for their favorite driver who usually happens to be Lewis (who deserves his plaudits, but has far fewer here constantly bashing him).
pr
6th August 2024, 22:49
Agreed, i wait to see where Alonso is rated as he also should be below Stroll.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:30
A bit harsh on ricciardo, but otherwise agree those 2 could’ve also been behind him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:30
Mostly since ricciardo seems to have improved compared to his early season form.
Retired (@jeff1s)
6th August 2024, 8:31
The english bashing has made his job, now put Alonso in the top 12 and we laugh
Retired (@jeff1s)
6th August 2024, 8:34
The choice of picture is somehow telling. Did him dirty
User463
6th August 2024, 15:05
The choice of picture made me laugh
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:09
Yeah, except Alonso has more than double his points. This is also a predictable post from you. Almost anytime Alonso is mentioned you have some insult prepared.
Retired (@jeff1s)
7th August 2024, 8:11
You looking silly commenting every post to make your point
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
6th August 2024, 8:41
I’m not sure about this tbh. I think sometimes the default position for Stroll is last in the ranking and other drivers have to be justified for finishing lower.
In the last 5 points scoring races for Aston, Stroll has 4 to Alonso’s 3 and he’s finished ahead in 3 of them. That’s not 18th in the ranking form for me, especially given Zhou, Magnussen and Gasly have out qualified their teammate fewer times too.
Stroll’s end to last season was horrific, his start to this season not a lot better with clumsy incidents like China. But it’s been a lot better of late and given how often we’ve seen Alonso drop the Aston since Mexico last year is it any surprise Lance is struggling sometimes too?
I don’t expect to see Fernando very far into the top 10, if at all, but unless the theory is that the Aston drivers are extracting a lot less than possible from the package – Stroll should be at least 2 places higher for me.
An Sionnach
6th August 2024, 9:54
Yes. The results show there are worse drivers out there. Hamilton was described as being back to his best for his recent improved results. Why is there a different standard for Lance? I don’t think he has many if any fans, but a driver ranking should be based on results. Zhou has had a couple of quiet solid races this season, and he had many of these last year, but he’s been awfully slow in too many of them this year. Not that many crashes, but slow and steady does not win the race in F1.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
6th August 2024, 10:08
its pretty obvious once they hooked alonso in to the team for that contract that now they can use him to make up the difference and make Lance look better. Vettel probably didn’t like being #2 so he wasted away and left the sport.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
6th August 2024, 10:10
ask your self, do you really know why Aston are that slow ?
the answer is obvious, just take Lance’s position from last year and stick Alonso behind him. Its obvious they are building a car around daddy warbuck’s son.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
6th August 2024, 11:08
I’m not sure I share your penchant for conspiracy. I think if we look at Aston Martin as an operation since 2022, realistically they’ve had a dozen good races and happened to find a super motivated Alonso to make the car look incredible. At most other times the car is 5th best and the team have no clear understanding of why it was successful or why it is slow. It’s worth remembering Ferrari and Mercedes struggled at the start of last year and McLaren were running the 2022 car.
So I don’t believe Alonso is being instructed to be slower. I think the car is a handful and he is saving his energy for 2026, knowing both drives are safe and 5th is the best and worst they can achieve. If we’re looking at Stroll however, the criticism was that he was too slow and error prone. He’s a lot closer on pace this year and has had fewer offs. I think he’s improved more than the 19th he was given at year end last year.
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th August 2024, 19:11
Well put @rbalonso, I don’t believe Alonso is currently giving the car all of his energy, he’s saving it for the moments when the car does work good and there’s a real opportunity to do something special (and for keeping Hamilton behind him when he can, IMO, but that’s just me).
Still, Stroll did take the opportunity to finally be around the same place on track, with less mistakes of late, in a way that to me also doesn’t scream 18th of 20.
An Sionnach
6th August 2024, 10:12
Off the top of my head… and yes, I gave Hamilton a wild card. I’m impressed how close him and Russell are in qualifying, with both of them getting a lot out of the car consistently.
Max
Norris
Hamilton
Piastri
Sainz
Russell
Leclerc
Tsunoda
Alonso
Albon
Hulkenberg
Ocon
Gasly
Lance
Ricciardo
Bottas
Perez
Magnussen
Zhou
Sargeant
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:33
A pretty good list, which I’ll likely agree with more than WW’s rankings. Though it also shows how contingent rankings are upon car performance as usual. The only ones in the list who gets a ranking way above or below their car is Yuki and Checo in it.
An Sionnach
6th August 2024, 23:29
Thanks. I didn’t do any analysis and contradicted what I said about following the data, particularly with Lewis and Ricciardo. I think with some drivers there’s a good chance that they just can’t get the chance to show off what they can do. This is possibly the case with Alonso to some extent considering how the season started. Albon has had almost nothing to fight with now the car has no strengths. In such cases, it’s just tough look as you can’t mark what you can’t see. With Lewis, when he’s been on it, you can see he has the killer instinct that Lando is lacking. I’d say that the flashes from Ricciardo and early decent performances from Perez mean that they got to show more… but then they had more car to show it with than someone like Bottas.
An Sionnach
6th August 2024, 23:35
I’m not that happy with the chasing pack after Max. They’re all hard to separate from each other. Lewis has underperformed too much, Lando and Leclerc can be all over the place and their strategy calls are generally bad, Russel and Piastri aren’t fast enough in the race and can turn in workmanlike performances which don’t do their qualifying justice. Sainz can seem inspired but then go off the boil and be slow in some races. I liked Russell’s performance in Spa quite a lot, though, as he addressed his main weaknesses in a race. Is he showing a sign of growth like Sainz has been over the last year?
It’s similar in the bottom tier. It’s hard to care enough to separate them.
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 0:11
I agree with that and I think almost every ranking ever does the same thing. It’s the natural fault in numbering ranks 1-20 instead of assigning individual scores or performance groupings. When there’s almost no way to put in performances that will be noticed or even score points, you don’t get noticed. Button’s WDC year was maybe his fifth best season in terms of performances, but it will always gain him more in drivers ranking than any other season except for maybe the season he beat Lewis in the same car (speaking of, I thought your ranking of Lewis was fair).
Similarly, Alonso was making Stroll look bad again early in the season when the car was still semi-competitive and only when AM dropped down to varying between the 5th-8th fastest team depending on the weekend, has Stroll looked competitive in the head-to-head. Tellingly, the only time Stroll was anywhere near FA last year was during the phase the performance completely dropped out of the car. That’s because FA maximizes performance when it’s available and Lance can only look competitive when the car is a dog.
An Sionnach
7th August 2024, 0:34
I had a driving sim for MS-DOS called Car & Driver years ago. I liked to drive the slowest car because I kept crashing the fast ones. Might be like certain drivers who find a car is developed away from them when it becomes faster!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
6th August 2024, 10:43
Lance is better than 18th. After all, he’s in the top half of the WDC points table (just).
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
6th August 2024, 10:54
I don’t usually comment in these ranking articles, it’s all so subjective, but this does seem a bit low to me as well.
If anything, Stroll has been a steady (though boring) midfield driver this year in a car that even Fernando is finding it hard to compete with.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
6th August 2024, 11:04
I’m really not a fan of Stroll at all, he overstayed his f1 welcome years ago in my opinion. But he was emphatically not worse than Zhou and slightly better than Magnussen as well. So he’s 2 places too low
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:12
Yes, this ranking is a bit of a joke. And, like everyone else, I despise Stroll for being a spoiled and lazy nepo baby.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
6th August 2024, 16:54
Well said. Lazy nepo baby. He infuriates me precisely because of that. Because he’s not talentless and yet he’s doing nothing with it. He has everything he needs to succeed and still fails. I mean, Papa Norris is crazy rich too and look where Lando is in comparison.
I can keep Stroll bashing all day. But facts are facts and the facts say he deserves to be ranked higher.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:57
Precisely. Maybe one day he’ll realize what an opportunity he took for granted and threw away, but Lance doesn’t seem bright or introspective enough to ever reach that point.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:49
Wow, you know someone has been ranked too low when even his biggest detractors say he should be ranked higher (not saying I disagree with the criticism)!
Asd
6th August 2024, 11:09
Ranking the drivers one by one will never be accurate and always problematic.
Here’s an idea. How about the drivers are assessed and grouped into 6 tiers?
1. Exceptional
2. Impressive
3. Competitive
4. Reliable
5. Inconsistent
6. Underperforming
José Lopes da Silva
6th August 2024, 11:26
I like this one.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
6th August 2024, 11:31
7. Nepo-baby
Asd
6th August 2024, 12:00
I’d add:
7. Not F1-worthy.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:14
Agreed.
That and just publish their average weekend rating than using this format to find a way to stretch out content to last the summer break.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:53
Not bad idea, I think only verstappen deserves the exceptional ranking this year; impressive could go to someone like norris, sainz, hamilton, difficult to say who should be 1 lower because I think many in that group have been close.
I’d say all the ones mentioned so far in the ranking articles have been bad enough to be in the underperforming group, along with zhou, maybe magnussen too, probably ricciardo could start the inconsistent group.
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 15:39
I agree with that assessment; Max being the only one to clearly be putting in excellent performances almost every round.
Fred Fedurch
6th August 2024, 11:51
8. Walking piggy bank.
Mog
6th August 2024, 12:47
Is Lance Stroll still in F1?
Oh.
Anyway….
notagrumpyfan
6th August 2024, 13:16
I guess this is a rating by continent.
First the North Americans, then the Asians, followed by the Aussies, mainland Europe, and the rest of the world.
The first sticking point will be where to pigeonhole Albon, and then find an excuse for Piastri ;)
Edvaldo
6th August 2024, 13:42
I’m under impression Zhou is having a rougher season than Stroll. Their car is 5th fastest fighting for scraps and they’re 9th and 10th in the standings, so the minimum has been achieved.
Stroll has been doing what he always does, but as Alonso has somewhat fallen by not demolishing him like he used too anymore, that goes on Stroll’s favour.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:55
Yes, on the other article I was shocked to see someone say that perez being 7th in the championship was fine based on how fast red bull is atm, but I don’t think so on average for the season, I think any worse than 3rd is bad in the circumstances, so stroll at least scored more points relative to the car compared to perez.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th August 2024, 14:44
I’m surprised Zhou is higher than Stroll, even Magnussen & Ricciardo as referred above.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:57
I think the only one of those I would put above stroll is ricciardo, who improved quite a bit compared to the early season.
Patrick (@paeschli)
6th August 2024, 15:20
There is no way a driver who has matched Alonso in the last couple of races is ranked below Zhou.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:16
I’d love to see if @WillWood can justify ranking Zhou above Stroll. Newsflash: there isn’t a single one.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:34
can give a single justification*
Zhou hasn’t put in a single good drive this entire season. Logan should be above him too.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th August 2024, 19:35
Was P11 in Bahrain not at least good? He also finished a reasonable 13th in spain 40 seconds above Bottas.
Recently, I think he has been really poor, and Bottas seems to have increased the gap between him this season more than any other. It is either zhou getting worse or Bottas doing a very solid job. It’s almost been a Perez vs verstappen performance between them this season, but due to the car, is harder for most to see that.
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 0:16
Unfortunately for Zhou that was the first race of the season and since an update a few races later, he’s been hopeless. Logan’s got into P11 as well (twice I think) and has a smaller average quali gap to Albon I believe. Not saying every weekend he’s been hopeless, but he’s looked hopeless more than Logan. But, together, they’ve both looked more hopeless than anyone else.
My main point though is that there is not a single argument to put Zhou above Stroll. It seems as if they thought just using that picture which captures Lance’s soul would make us forget about that. lol
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 3:01
Ahah, a hopeless driver pairing, so you could put them both at sauber and make a full hopeless team!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 2:59
Wow, impressive attention to detail to notice they had a verstappen vs perez-like performance, I didn’t notice that, being sauber the worst car this year.
MichaelN
6th August 2024, 19:49
When four teams have a higher difference in qualifying results and three teams have a higher difference in race results, it seems a bit harsh to put Stroll down here in the ranking. The guy is obviously not a world class talent, but he’s far from the slouch he’s sometimes portrayed to be.
If nothing else, Magnussen should be here. Or Zhou, who has been lackluster in qualifying. Although in the races the Sauber duo actually has the smallest difference between teammates; but that’s not really Zhou’s performance making up the difference, the car just doesn’t do anything in the races and Bottas inevitably drops back. That whole team is just ‘on hold’ until 2026.
Janith
7th August 2024, 9:54
You think Tsunoda is better than Alonso?
BLS (@brightlampshade)
6th August 2024, 20:16
I’d guess Stroll is the most universally disliked driver on the grid, yet here we all are sticking up for him.
The rankings this season have been all over the place, if we are following the averages of the usual post race scores then this list is going to look very odd compared to how the drivers have actually driven this year!
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 0:19
Indeed. It’s what happens when people see a glaringly non-objective rating. We can all agree he’s earned his disdain, but he hasn’t earned being behind Zhou nor likely Magnussen.
dan
7th August 2024, 21:46
Terrible rating when i do not see Alonso yet. Alonso at 60 should be beating Stroll evry week. Embarassing how Alonso is going kneck and kneck lately with someone who could not overpower sirotkin and made Massa 5 yrs past his prime look rapid. Could u imagine Alonso vs Russel? HAHA, and Hamilton has the measure aged 40. Alo has way too many easy teammates and yes way too many bad cars too i agree but he aint what everyone thinks he is.