Lawrence Stroll has a Lance Stroll dilemma

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Recapping the winners and losers from the Qatar Grand Prix

Lawrence Stroll has a Lance Stroll dilemma.

At the start of the 2023 Formula 1 season, Aston Martin was the surprise package. The AMR23 — jokingly referred to as the “third Red Bull” by Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner — was the car every team other than Red Bull was chasing. Fernando Alonso began the season with three-straight podium finishes, and teammate Lance Stroll gutted out a sixth-place finish in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix despite returning from injury.

Then after a retirement in the second race of the season, Stroll bounced back with a fourth-place finish in the Australian Grand Prix, the third race of the season.

Their early form made them the big story at the start of the season, as Aston Martin found themselves in second place behind only Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship after the first five races of the year.

But slowly, the rest of the field started to catch them. First it was Mercedes, who pulled ahead of Aston Martin at the Spanish Grand Prix, and then it was Ferrari, who climbed above them in the standings at the Italian Grand Prix. In that race Alonso managed just a ninth-place finish, while Stroll finished out of the points.

Now instead of fighting for second, they are looking to hold on for fourth with McLaren tracking them down.

Certainly there are a number of factors at work, and Aston Martin’s inability to deliver the upgrades needed to the AMR23 as the rest of the field chased them down is on that list. But as the playing field was evened, Alonso managed to keep finding ways to get into the points, while his teammate found more ways to struggle.

Qatar felt like a breaking point. After being eliminated in Q1 on Friday, Stroll was caught on camera visibly frustrated in the garage, and that frustration continued during his post-qualifying interview:

Saturday was not much better for him, as he failed once more to advance out of the first qualifying session, and managed just a P13. He was more diplomatic in his comments following that result, but diplomacy does not add up to points in the standings.

In fact, look at how stagnant Stroll has been since the Austrian Grand Prix, thanks to this graphic from Formula1Points:

As you can see, things did not improve for him on Sunday. At various points in the race he was running in the points, as the teams cycled through all the required pit stops given the 18-lap limit on tyres imposed by the FIA.

But on Lap 44 Stroll was hit with a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, all but eliminating any chance he had at salvaging some points from the race. He would be hit with another five-second penalty later in the race. While he crossed the line in ninth place, the penalties dropped him out of the points.

When you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the gap between Alonso and Stroll is one of the biggest teammate gaps in F1:

If you put the Verstappen-Pérez gap aside — which is perhaps fair given how dominant Verstappen has been this year — the points gap from Alonso to Stroll is the biggest in F1. Even including the gap at Red Bull, it is the second-biggest in the sport, and the only gap over 100 points.

That … is a problem for a team fighting for their spot in the standings.

This gap has led to increased speculation about Stroll’s future with the team, and in the sport. With his father, Lawrence Stroll, the owner of Aston Martin F1, it was largely assumed that the younger Stroll would have his seat as long as he wanted it.

But his struggles this season have opened the door to stories about a whimsical move to tennis — one which was brushed aside by the driver — and recent speculation that Aston Martin’s upcoming entry into the World Endurance Championship could give Stroll a lifeboat, and the F1 team a chance to replace him alongside Alonso.

While it remains to be seen what happens with the younger Stroll at Aston Martin F1, it certainly looks like his father has a difficult decision to make.

Or maybe, given the numbers, an easy one.

Winners: McLaren

Another tremendous race weekend for McLaren.

After a double-podium result in the F1 Sprint race on Saturday, that saw Oscar Piastri win his first F1 race and Lando Norris finish behind him in third, they scored another double podium, with Piastri coming in second and Norris third.

That gave them a huge cache of points coming out of the weekend, and they now sit just 11 points behind Aston Martin in the battle for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Given how strong they have been recently, it seems like a forgone conclusion that they will leap Aston Martin sooner rather than later.

Losers: Mercedes and Ferrari

Is it possible for both team fighting for second in the Constructors’ Championship to leave Qatar disappointed? Because it seems that Mercedes and Ferrari have pulled that off.

At the start on Sunday, it looked as if Mercedes had a clear advantage in their battle with Ferrari for second place. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished ahead of the Ferrari pair in the F1 Sprint race Saturday, allowing Mercedes to inch a few more points ahead of Ferrari in their fight. They inched a few more points ahead when Charles Leclerc was given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits following the Sprint race, which dropped him out of the points.

Then things got even worse on Sunday before the lights even went out. Due to a fuel leak on his SF-23, Carlos Sainz Jr. was unable to start the Grand Prix.

That meant the Silver Arrows were in tremendous position to pull further ahead in their fight with Ferrari. But that advantage was over by the first turn of the race.

Hamilton, perhaps feeling some pressure as he was starting on soft tyres, quickly found himself in a three-way fight with Russell and Max Verstappen at the front of the field. The Mercedes duo then collided, spinning both drivers off the track. Hamilton found himself in the gravel and out of the race, and Russell was forced to pit with damage, dropping him down to 18th.

Both Russell and Hamilton were beyond frustrated on the radio, with Hamilton lamenting that he was taken out by his teammate, and Russell noting this was the second race in a row the two were fighting each other on the track.

Hamilton ultimately took responsibility for the incident:

However, while that opened the door for Leclerc to perhaps salvage something for Ferrari, he could not take advantage of the opportunity. Instead it was Russell who finished ahead of him, with the Mercedes driver in fourth and Leclerc in fifth.

The net result? The Silver Arrows increased their lead over Ferrari by eight points on the weekend.

And both teams are probably wondering what could have been. Mercedes could have increased their lead even more had Hamilton and Russell not come together at the start of the race. Ferrari could have pressed the advantage that resulted from that collision, had Leclerc finished higher or they had both him and Sainz on the track to begin with.

Winners: Fans rooting for chaos

For F1 fans who root for chaos — and perhaps you are one of them — the news ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix is exactly what you wanted to hear. With FIA mandating that tyres could only last 18 laps, that meant teams were looking at a three-stop strategy, if not more. It also made for some difficult strategy decisions for teams.

That chaos got underway almost immediately when Hamilton, on a set of softs, found himself three wide with Russell and Verstappen just after the lights went out. That did not work for the Mercedes pair, and after the two came together Hamilton found himself in the gravel and out of the race. Russell needed to pit, and was dropped down to 14th when the race resumed after starting second.

The tyre mandate made for some good overtaking on the track, as you had drivers using tyres in different states of wear, which allowed for passing throughout the field, and throughout the race. It also opened the door for some different names at the front, as you saw Alexander Albon lead the race for example. You also saw Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas up front for a time.

Of course, things largely settled down following the final round of pit stops, but during a season that has been rather formulaic, Sunday offered something different.

Losers: Race officials

It might be time to go back to the drawing board at Lusail.

The story of Friday? Track limits. A number of drivers saw lap times deleted for exceeding track limits during qualifying for the Grand Prix, the most notable of those being the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Norris qualified second, but his one good lap in Q3 was deleted, dropping him to tenth.

Piastri, who had assumed P3 following Norris getting his lap time deleted, was dropped down to sixth when a lap time of his own was deleted. Compounding matters, Piastri found out during his trackside interview with Naomi Schiff.

As a result, race officials widened the track at Turns 12 and 13, hoping to give drivers more room at that section of the circuit.

But drivers continued to see lap times deleted, well into the Grand Prix on Sunday. Drivers like Albon, Liam Lawson, Sergio Pérez, and Piastri saw lap times deleted, just adding to the chaotic scene at Lusail. Pérez was the first driver to get hit with a penalty, as he was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits on Lap 27.

This harkens back to the Austrian Grand Prix, when the field struggled with track limits and Pérez himself was knocked out of Q2 when he failed to post a lap as all his times were deleted for exceeding track limits.

Then there are the tyre issues. Race officials installed 50 millimeter “pyramid” kerbs at different sections of the track. But Pirelli noted early in the week that perhaps due to the vibration from those kerbs, treads were pulling away on tyres. That led to FIA instituting the 18-lap maximum for each set of tyres in the Grand Prix.

That opened the door to a number of different strategies and some chaos on the track, but it also made for some uncertainty for drivers and teams.

While it made for some excitement in the race, expect to see some changes ahead of next year’s edition.

Loser: Sergio Pérez

We touched on this above, but it is worth a deeper discussion.

For the second time this season, Pérez struggled with track limits over the course of a weekend. It hampered his time at the Austrian Grand Prix, when all of his qualifying runs in Q2 were deleted for exceeding track limits, and he failed to advance to Q3.

Then on Sunday at Lusail International Circuit, he was hit with a pair of five-second penalties for exceeding track limits, and managed just a tenth-place finish.

While he caught a break in his own battle for second with Hamilton finishing out of the points, he is still just 30 points ahead of the Mercedes driver. Just a bit further back in the standings, Alonso gained some ground on him with his result Sunday.

His boss seemed to throw down a bit of a warning marker following the race:

There was even speculation during the race on F1TV from the commentary booth that it feels like the relationship between the driver and the team is drifting apart. Is there truth to that? Pérez is signed with the team through the 2024 season.

But 2025 is a long way away.

Winners: Alfa Romeo

How about some love for Alfa Romeo. For just the first time this season, they secured a double-points finish. Valtteri Bottas finished eighth, and Zhou Guanyu finished ninth.

It was an especially impressive performance from Zhou, who started 19th on the grid but pushed his way into the points on a grueling afternoon for the entire grid.

With both Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant finishing out of the points, Alfa Romeo gained six points, critical in their battle for seventh in the Constructors’ Championship against Williams. The team set finishing seventh as their goal coming out of the August break, and today was a big step in that effort.

Loser: Nico Hülkenberg’s situational awareness

The news that Sainz was not going to start the Grand Prix left a vacant spot on the starting grid alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Sainz was set to start 12th, with Nico Hülkenberg in 14th.

But after the formation lap, instead of sticking in that 14th box Hülkenberg drove right through it, and took the box that was to remain empty with Sainz unable to start the race.

It may have been an innocent mistake — and it seemed so given a replay shown on F1TV of Hülkenberg sliding into that spot and then looking around as if he was wondering if that was right — but race officials did not see it that way. The Haas driver was hit with a ten-second penalty.