On the latest Beyond the Grid Podcast,  Lawrence Stroll opens up about his son and sets the record straight as to why he believes Lance is a "good" diver. Stroll also talks about how important it is for Lance to have a competitive car especially after all the hard work that his son has put into his racing career so far. 

When you look at Lance Stroll's current F1 stats, it can be easy to overlook his driving capabilities and talent on track. The Aston Martin driver has secured a pole and has three podiums so far in his F1 career. He started out with the Williams team in 2017, joined Force India/ Racing Point in 2019, and now drives for the Aston Martin F1 team part- owned by his father.

Before the 22-year-old Stroll made his debut into the prestigious F1 series, he had success in the junior racing series where he won championship titles for F3, F4, and the Toyota Racing Series which also include graduates Lando Norris and Brendon Hartley.

When asked about how good his son Lance is as a driver, Stroll discussed his son’s early achievements prior to F1:

“I think Lance demonstrated in all the junior categories when all the cars were pretty much identical and there wasn’t much you could do it, he won many championships in go-karting in his early days, won in Formula 4, won in Formula 3, I think it was most wins, most poles, and against a lot of the guys who are actually here today,” Stated Stroll 

The 2020 season with Racing Point was a huge step in the right direction for Lance Stroll's F1 career. For the first time, the young Canadian driver had a competitive car that put him in fourth place for the driver's championship until he endured a string of bad luck with racing incidents where he lost out on points that ultimately caused him to finish eleventh overall.

“So I think given the history of demonstrating he was able to do, and last year having a proper car… we also had a lot of bad luck last year. Lance was on a roll and was fourth in the championship but then we had the tyre blow, that would have been another podium, we had a few people push him off the track.

“So we had our share of bad luck last year and it was the first year we had a car that he could do anything with.

“And we all know you are only as good as the car. You can put any World Champion in a car that is 18th on the grid and he’ll be 18th or 17th, he certainly isn’t going to be first.”

There have been negative comments in the past surrounding Stroll's performance on track and he has even been labeled as a "pay driver” lacking both the skills and talent to be in F1. Lawrence Stroll took the opportunity on the podcast to defend his son and discuss how hard he has worked to get to this point in his racing career. 

Stroll was asked directly about the stigma that comes from being the boss’s son and agreed that Lance does have to work doubly hard to receive the recognition that he deserves on the team. However, despite the pressures of having to constantly prove himself as more than the boss’s son, Stroll senior says that he wouldn’t put Lance with any other team.

Stroll then later revealed how unsatisfied he was with Lance’s time at Williams and reiterated just how important it has been for his son to have a competitive car unlike the one he had in 2017 and 2018 with the British team.   

“We started with Williams, you know, two years of torture,” stated Stroll.

“Particularly when you’re used to coming off winning, and when you train for two three hours every day, and watch what you eat and know that the best you’re going to do is 18th on a good weekend. It’s challenging so getting him a car last year was very, very important.

“Very important for everything for all the work he has put in.”

Stroll has also been vocal about his ambitious plans for the Aston Martin F1 team. He hopes that the team will have the cars to fight for the championship within the next five years. With a new state-of-the-art facility being built for the team near the Silverstone track, which will also include a wind tunnel, the future looks bright and full of possibilities for the billionaire’s son at Aston Martin.