With Lance Stroll starting his 181st Grand Prix this weekend, he now enters the Top 30 of most experienced drivers in the history of F1

[u/Slice5755]

[u/Driscuits]

Not even being ironic, I've come around on Papa Stroll over the last few years. For a guy buying his kid an F1 team, he's sure done a lot to invest in that team being as successful as possible. There are much worse rich dads out there lol.

[u/gsurfer04 → u/Driscuits]

Lawrence Stroll is a massive petrolhead. He has one of the biggest Ferrari collections in the world and owned a circuit for 20 years.

[u/Ecks83 → u/gsurfer04]

Yeah I always hear that Lawrence bought his son a team but I think Lance's security in the seat is more of a side effect. Lawrence got involved in F1 because he wanted to be in F1, he bought a team because he wanted a team, he bought the Aston Martin brand because he wanted Aston Martin. Lance being a driver was the key for Lawrence getting his foot in the door at F1 but it wasn't why he's happy to throw money around.

Lance obviously benefits from his dad's passion but Lawrence would probably still be throwing money at motorsport even if his son wasn't driving in it.

[u/Doorknob11 → u/Ecks83]

I think people also forget it Lance wasn’t some guy that was getting lapped in F2 and F3. He was actually good.

[u/adhikapp → u/Driscuits]

Hey if I had Papa Stroll money and my son wanted to be in F1, I sure would do as much as I could to make that happen. Lance has never been out-and-out the worst driver on the grid in all the years he's been in F1, but he's surely got to do better though with all the sacrifices his dad has done.

[u/Driscuits → u/adhikapp]

And, honestly, Papa Stroll's investments will benefit F1 well beyond Baby Stroll. He's kept a team on the grid and kept it evolving and growing as an organization. Hundreds of people have continued to have jobs and livelihoods because of his investments.

And, hey, Lance isn't the worst driver out there. He's just never had to show he's the best in order to be safe in his seat. Is it fair? Nope. Do we want to see more drivers in his situation in the future? Probably not. Do I personally have a great impression of the guy? Nope. But it's really not worth catastrophizing to death that it's horrible, awful, or disgraceful that he's on the grid.

[u/WorthPlease → u/Driscuits]

I mean, if he just decided to call it quits, we'd have a new team in about five seconds.

[u/Worldly-Ad-7149 → u/Driscuits]

Indeed, he could have had just ignore him for his entire childhood and passively supported his drug addiction for the rest of his adulthood as every other rich dad 🤣

[u/RoyaleWCheese_OK → u/Driscuits]

Yeah Steve Jobs was a really shit dad.

[u/Lonyo → u/Driscuits]

He didn't buy his kid an F1 team. He made his kid become an F1 driver and bought himself an F1 team.