Stroll: ‘Probably’ no Aston Martin podiums this year

Jon Wilde
Lance Stroll ahead of a Haas during the Bahrain GP. Sakhir March 2022.

Lance Stroll's Aston Martin ahead of a Haas during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sakhir March 2022.

Lance Stroll has major doubts that Aston Martin can challenge for the podium this year – and is only hopeful about the prospect of points.

Aston Martin have been the big disappointment of the 2022 season so far, yet to get off the mark by achieving a top-10 finish as they have struggled more than most teams with the ‘porpoising’ effect of the all-new ground-effect F1 cars.

Stroll has not been way off the points, finishing 12th twice and 13th, but has not threatened to achieve anything like the two third places he bagged when the team were known as Racing Point in 2020, plus a pole-position start in Turkey that year and a victory for Sergio Perez in the sister car.

And optimism is limited at the Silverstone-based team that they will quickly get on top of their problems with the AMR22 car which is also heavier than ideal.

“Will we be fighting for wins this season? No. Will we be fighting for podiums this season? Probably not,” said the Canadian driver during a media call on the eve of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend that included Planet F1.

“Will hopefully we get to a position where we can fight for points and stuff? I really hope so and I believe that’s possible if we do the right things, and if we push each other and come up with some ideas on how to resolve some of our limitations. But time will tell.

“I’m confident and positive that as a team we can improve and push this car further.

“But in F1, as you develop everyone else develops, so it’s a development race to the end of the year.”

Ultimately, while Aston Martin have taken steps backwards since that excellent 2020 season, they remain extremely ambitious for the future – especially given the infrastructure Stroll’s father, team owner Lawrence, is putting together with a new factory being built and a dynamic recruitment programme.

 

“We are really focused and excited on the future,” added the 23-year-old. “It’s amazing what’s going on at Silverstone with the factory, it’s going up so quickly.

“Every week I go, it’s shocking to see how much progress they are making and how quickly that building is coming up.

“And all the people joining the already very talented people on board. I think it’s just an extremely exciting project that’s in the process of growing.

“Nothing happens overnight. It’s really a process now of just developing, getting a better understanding of what we can do better this season but really looking forward to the next few years and where this team is heading.

“It’s really about the future for us. It’s really exciting and I’m just looking at that.”

 

Things can't get much worse for Aston Martin

Things have got to start picking up for Aston Martin this weekend so they can start progressing.