Lance Stroll: Career, Podiums and Aston Martin Years

Lance Stroll has spent his Formula One career with two teams: Williams, and the Racing Point group that became Aston Martin in 2021. The Canadian took his only pole position in 2020, the same year he stood on the podium twice, and his results since 2023 have been built alongside Fernando Alonso.

Who is Lance Stroll and where did he grow up?

Stroll is a Canadian racer, born in Montreal, who drives for Aston Martin in Formula One. He was born Lance Jacob Strulovitch on 29 October 1998, and his father, Lawrence Stroll, owns the team he now races for.

His mother, Claire-Anne Stroll, is a Belgian fashion designer, and he has an older sister named Chloe. He races under the Canadian flag and holds Canadian and Belgian citizenship. He is multilingual and speaks English, French, Dutch and Italian.

His name also appears on the list of Formula One drivers from Canada, alongside Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion.

A Formula Three champion whose Formula One career has run through two teams, one of them owned by his father.

How did Stroll rise through karting and junior formulae?

Stroll began karting at the age of ten and joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2010. He won the 2014 Italian F4 Championship with Prema Powerteam, and a 2015 Toyota Racing Series campaign with M2 followed before his Formula Three title run.

He recorded numerous wins in Canada and North America in karting. In 2008, his first year in the sport, he was named rookie of the year by the Quebec federation, and in 2009 he won its driver of the year award. He was mentored by six-time World Champion Mike Wilson.

His first car race came in the 2014 Florida Winter Series, a non-championship event organised by the Ferrari Driver Academy. He took two podiums and a pole at Homestead-Miami.

In the Italian F4 Championship that year he took seven race wins, thirteen podiums and five poles. He was champion even though he missed the final round through injury.

What did Stroll achieve in Formula Three?

In 2015 Stroll contested the FIA European Formula Three Championship with Prema Powerteam, winning one race at Hockenheimring and finishing fifth overall. In 2016 he took a record thirteen more wins after his first victory at Paul Ricard, and he clinched the title with four races to go.

The 2016 title was not without controversy. George Russell argued at Paul Ricard that the fight was not fair after Stroll inherited the lead from a slowing rival, and the team faced accusations of using team orders. He finished the championship 187 points clear of the next competitor.

His 2015 Toyota Racing Series campaign yielded ten podiums, four wins and sixteen starts. His appearance at the Macau Grand Prix that year ended with eighth place, and it was his only start at that event.

In November 2015 he left the Ferrari Driver Academy to become a test driver for Williams. The following year he finished fifth at the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Ford prototype with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing.

How did Stroll's Williams debut seasons go?

Stroll joined Williams for the 2017 season, partnering Felipe Massa, and became the first Canadian Formula One driver since Jacques Villeneuve. He scored his first points at Montreal with ninth place, and he finished third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix aged 18 years and 239 days.

His debut weekend in Australia ended early after a practice crash and a brake failure in the race. Retirements followed in China and Bahrain after collisions with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr, and his first classified finish came in Russia, where he placed eleventh despite spinning on lap one.

At the Italian Grand Prix he was promoted to second on the grid after penalties for other drivers, and at 18 years and 310 days he became the youngest front-row starter in Formula One history. He finished seventh that day, and his rookie year ended with twelfth in the championship.

Massa outqualified him 17-2 across the season and outraced him 9-4 in races that both drivers finished. On opening laps he made up more places than any other driver that season.

In 2018 he stayed with Williams, now partnered by Sergey Sirotkin, while the FW41 was the slowest car in the field. Stroll scored the team's first points that year with eighth at Baku, and finished 18th overall with six of the team's seven points.

What did Stroll achieve at Racing Point?

Stroll moved to Racing Point for 2019 after a consortium led by his father bought the team. He replaced Esteban Ocon alongside Sergio Perez, and his debut season at the team finished 15th overall on 21 points, while Perez scored 52.

He opened the year with ninth at the Australian Grand Prix, his first points for the team. At the German Grand Prix he ended a streak of fourteen Q1 eliminations, switched to slick tyres as the track dried and climbed to second before Daniil Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel passed him.

His strongest season came in 2020. In Turkey he took his first pole position after a wet qualifying session, the first pole by a Canadian driver since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix. He led 32 of 58 laps before tyre graining dropped him to ninth at the finish.

The Italian Grand Prix brought second place, his second Formula One podium, after he was passed by several cars following a red flag restart. At Sakhir he benefited from tyre problems for the leading cars to finish third, his third podium. He ended the season 11th with 75 of the team's 210 points.

Why did Stroll's 2020 season include so many retirements?

From the Tuscan Grand Prix onwards, a run of retirements cut into his form. A mechanical failure caused a heavy crash there, and he was eliminated on the first lap at Russia after contact with Charles Leclerc. He then withdrew from the Eifel race before qualifying because of illness.

Shortly after the Eifel weekend he tested positive for coronavirus. He completed a ten-day isolation period and returned at the Portuguese Grand Prix, where a collision with Lando Norris ended his race, his fourth consecutive non-finish.

How did Stroll's Aston Martin years unfold in 2021 and 2022?

Racing Point rebranded as Aston Martin for 2021, and Stroll was partnered by Sebastian Vettel. He finished 13th that year with 34 points, while Vettel scored 43, and his best result of the season came with sixth at the Qatar Grand Prix.

A high-speed tyre failure ended his race in Azerbaijan, and a similar failure later hit Max Verstappen, which prompted Pirelli to investigate. At Hungary a first-lap collision eliminated him and Leclerc, and at Russia he collided with Vettel and Pierre Gasly, earning a ten-second penalty.

In 2022 his first points came with tenth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. At the United States Grand Prix he started fifth and ran as high as third before a collision with Fernando Alonso ended his race.

His best result of 2022 came with sixth at the Singapore Grand Prix, and he finished the season 15th with 18 points, against 37 for Vettel. At Abu Dhabi, the season finale, he started 14th and finished eighth.

How has Stroll fared alongside Alonso since 2023?

Stroll has partnered Fernando Alonso since 2023, when Alonso replaced the retiring Vettel. That first season ended 10th in the championship with 74 points, the highest position of his career, while Alonso scored 206. The pairing was retained for 2024.

Stroll was injured in a cycling accident before testing, fracturing both wrists and breaking a toe, and he missed three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain. He returned for the opening race and finished sixth despite first-lap contact with Alonso. In Australia he finished fourth, his best result of 2023.

The season brought other highs and lows. He finished ninth from 16th on the grid at Canada, and he qualified third at Sao Paulo to finish fifth. A heavy qualifying crash at Singapore led to his withdrawal from that weekend.

The team confirmed that Stroll would remain alongside Alonso for 2024.

What were Stroll's 2024 and 2025 seasons like?

In 2024 Stroll finished 13th in the championship, and his last points of the year came at Hungary. His season began with tenth in Bahrain and sixth in Australia, and he then crashed out in Saudi Arabia.

In China he finished the sprint 14th, but a 10-second penalty for hitting Daniel Ricciardo dropped him to 15th in the main race. He recovered with seventh at his home race in Canada, and he earned points again in Britain and Hungary. Andrew Vizard replaced Ben Michell as his race engineer after the Australian round.

In 2025 he finished sixth at a rain-affected Australian Grand Prix and ninth in China after several disqualifications ahead of him. He qualified and finished last at the Japanese Grand Prix. A hand and wrist problem, which he linked to a 2023 procedure, had already caused him to withdraw before the Spanish race.

What does Stroll's Formula One record look like season by season?

His best known championship finish, 10th in 2023, came in his first season alongside Alonso. The 2024 position of 13th is recorded in the text above, but no points total for that year is included in this table.

What is Stroll's background away from the cockpit?

Stroll's family background is central to his career. His father owns the team that became Aston Martin, and his parents divorced, with his father later remarrying. Stroll is also of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side.

He has raced outside Formula One as well. He entered the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, in 2016 and 2018, and in April 2026 it was announced that he would race in the first round of the Endurance Cup with Comtoyou Racing, alongside Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya.

Stroll's place in Canadian motorsport

Stroll's 2020 Turkish pole made him the first Canadian driver to take pole since Villeneuve in 1997. He first scored Formula One points at his home race in Montreal.

His contract with Aston Martin runs to at least the close of 2027. As of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix he has one pole position and three podiums, and his partnership with Alonso is now in its fourth season.