'Stroll is better than people think in Formula One'

Lance Stroll is often labelled a paydriver, but according to former Formula 1 driver Marc Surer, that is not justified. "If the car was better, Stroll would also be regularly in the points," he said.

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll has long had the image of a 'paydriver', a driver who has bought his way into the sport. And not without reason: his wealthy father Lawrence Stroll is the current owner of the Aston Martin team, and Lance is the only driver on an open-ended contract. Yet Marc Surer - who drove in Formula 1 himself in the 1980s - thinks it is unfair to portray Stroll as a paydriver, he said in a recent video on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de.

"He is not bad and he is good enough to score points. He proves that time and again - with a bad car at the moment. He is not the super talent like a Vettel or Alonso. He is a number two driver. But he really can do it."

Not as bad as at McLaren

Stroll has had some nice successes in the past, including a pole position in Istanbul 2020 and several podium finishes. All these results were with the Aston Martin team, then called Racing Point. Stroll has also made his mark in the junior series. Yet the Canadian is failing somewhat behind this season. After sixteen races, he has just five points, a quarter of what teammate Vettel has. That puts him in eighteenth place in the championship, five places behind his teammate. Still, Surer thinks it could have been worse.

"If you compare it to McLaren, he is better off. He is not slumping as blatantly against Vettel as you would expect. Stroll is closer to Vettel than Ricciardo is to Norris. If the car was a bit better, Stroll would also be in the points regularly."