Lawrence Stroll "wants to be up at the front", insists Lance

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Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll insists that his father is in Formula 1 to win, and not merely as some sort of 'vanity project' or a way to boost his son's motor racing career.

Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll headed a consortium or investors in a buy-out of the dept-ridden Force India team in August 2018 for around £90 million, initially operating under the name of Racing Point.

Stroll subsequently made a $235.6 million investment in road and sports car manufacturer Aston Martin and became executive chairman of the business. He renamed the F1 team accordingly in 2021.

His son Lance has been part of the team from the start and had just confirmed a multi-year extension to his current deal to remain at Aston alongside Fernando Alonso for the foreseeable future.

The team has struggled in recent races but came alive again at its home race at Silverstone last week with both drivers finishing in the top ten and clinching points in the constructors championship where they are currently fifth.

Read also: Aston Martin confirm contract extension for Stroll

Lance said that his father's passion and commitment for F1 remained undimmed, and his vision of seeing the team winning races and challenging for titles was burned as brightly as ever.

"He wants to be up at the front," the younger Stroll told the media last week during British Grand Prix. "Yeah, he's got the vision and the passion.

"He's putting his heart and passion and ambition into the project. I mean, giving everyone at Silverstone all the tools to bring something special to the race track.

"That's what he's given everyone at Silverstone, an opportunity to do that and the tools to do that," Lance added.

The 25-year-old driver from Montreal, already a veteran of 155 F1 races since his maiden outing in the 2017 Australian GP, believes that Aston's best chance of breaking through will come when the engine rules change in 2026.

That will see Aston Martin partner with automotive giant Honda, who will be supplying the team with new specification power units as a de facto works team.

Stroll is looking forward to what's coming, after the team spent heavily on a new headquarters and upgraded technical facilities at their base just outside Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire.

"The wind tunnel will be ready in a few months," Stroll explained. "2026 is a big opportunity for all the teams, a completely new set of regulations.

"I think it's an exciting opportunity," he insisted. a regulation change is always an exciting opportunity for teams to try and come up with something special."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.