It’s no secret that Lawrence Stroll isn’t exactly the most popular figure among his peers, with plenty of people openly saying they’re not interested in working with him.
The Canadian businessman has attracted plenty of criticism since he first appeared on the F1 scene, and over time, that reputation hasn’t really changed.
Even Bernie Ecclestone had his doubts about Stroll from the beginning. He initially put some money into Williams before taking Lance and moving to Force India, where he rebranded the team as Racing Point. By 2022, it had become Aston Martin.
Since then, Stroll has been trying to turn the Silverstone-based team into a title contender. But despite all the money and effort he’s put in, there are still quite a few people who aren’t sold on working with him.
‘A lot of people’ do not want to work with Lawrence Stroll
By 2026, Aston Martin are facing a serious crisis. Ongoing vibration problems and an underpowered Honda engine have left the team struggling just to finish races, let alone compete for points.
The additions of Adrian Newey, Enrico Cardile, and incoming team principal Jonathan Wheatley haven’t turned things around either. Aston Martin remain stuck at the back of the grid, which won’t help improve Stroll’s already shaky reputation.
Spanish F1 commentator Antonio Lobato spoke to SoyMotor about how word has spread across the paddock about Stroll’s reputation.
He said: “No, I don’t know Lawrence Stroll. I’ve heard a lot about him. There are a lot of people in Formula 1 who haven’t wanted to work with Lawrence Stroll because they know what sort of character he has.
“And I don’t know how he’s behaving, how he’s reacting, what internal communications he’s having right now with the people in senior management. I don’t know what’s going on.
“No, I don’t know what conversations he’s had with Honda, I just know that Honda has made a right mess of things obviously but that Aston Martín is responsible absolutely responsible for not having monitored the development of the engine that Honda was preparing.”
Lobato isn’t alone in his opinion. Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told Drive to Wynn earlier this year that he didn’t think Stroll was willing to give Aston Martin enough time to develop into a competitive force.
This impatience became clear when Wheatley replaced Newey as team principal less than halfway through the season, moving Newey back into a technical role.
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