At 23, Lance Stroll is already in his sixth season in Formula 1. Crowned in F4 Italy and F3 Europe before immediately making the leap into the elite (not without a substantial test program conducted with Williams upstream), the Canadian saw his trajectory facilitated by the financial ease of his father, the billionaire Lawrence Stroll who now owns the Aston Martin team. But to say that he owes him his presence in the elite, Mike Krack protests!
Arrived as team principal at Aston Martin F1 Team this year, Krack hails the talent of a Lance Stroll « very underrated » and does not fail to point out that he has never speeded for a top team and has therefore hardly been able to prove himself at the front.
“Let’s not forget that Lance has never had a car to win since the start of his career” recalls the Luxembourger in the Beyond The Grid podcast. « He did exceptional things when the conditions allowed, in Istanbul for example in the rain. For me, Lance is one of the drivers who is very underestimated. He is much better than people think. He also works much tougher than people think. He’s in very good physical condition and he’s also very polite. A lot of people don’t know that, because they don’t take the time to get to know him. »
Lance Stroll and Mike Krack
« It’s easy to put someone like that in a box, that he would be there because his father allowed him to, and that’s not true. He’s a very good driver, and I think that you see it when the conditions are difficult, because in difficult conditions you often see who the good riders are and who is not necessarily so competitive. It is interesting that always, when it rains, Lance is there. It shows us that you have to look a little more in detail rather than saying that he is there for such and such a reason. »
Stroll has only beaten one teammate to the championship since his debut, namely Sergey Sirotkin in 2018; he was defeated by Felipe Massa, Sergio Pérez and Sebastian Vettel. As for his performances in the rain, it is true that two of his three qualifications in the top 4 – including this famous pole position at the Turkish Grand Prix 2020 – took place in these conditions… but this is the case of a only of his 12 finishes in the top 7 in the race, namely his fourth place at the 2019 German GP.
Apart from Stroll and Vettel, Krack worked with many other Formula 1 drivers when he was an engineer at Sauber in the 2000s: Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld… and Robert Kubica, « the best I have ever seen ». Better than Vettel? « From the point of view of pure talent, his feelings and his way of describing the car, I find him very, very strong »concludes Krack.
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https://formulaone.news/aston-martin/the-key-questions-as-f1-returns-from-mercedes-power-to-oscar-piastris-future
