– Actually, Lance Stroll wanted to use the season opener of the GT World Challenge Europe in Le Castellet at the weekend to distract himself a bit from the current frustration in Formula 1. In the end, however, he found himself back where he currently stands with Aston Martin in the premier class: at the very back.
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Stroll and his two teammates Mari Boya and ex-Formula 1 pilot Roberto Merhi finished the race at the Circuit Paul Ricard in 48th place out of 49 cars that made it into the classification. The gap to the victorious sister car was a whopping 13 laps at the end.
Responsible for the poor performance were, among other things, numerous penalties that the three drivers collected during the six-hour race. For example, eight 30-second time penalties alone were incurred for ignoring blue flags.
Boya received another stop-and-go penalty for a collision with another car, and another 220 penalty seconds were added for a total of three track limit violations. The bottom line at the end was one stop-and-go penalty and a further 7:40 penalty minutes.
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Stroll’s pace was significantly better than the result suggests. He completed his fastest lap time right at the end of the race in 1:55.213 minutes. That was only about half a second slower than the fastest race lap (1:54.737).
Before the race, Stroll had explained: “In Formula 1, you don’t always have the chance to win. Here, the competition is very tough, but even if we are here for the first time and lack experience: if everything comes together – good set-up, good feeling – a victory is possible.”
That was obviously not the case on Saturday. Stroll’s next Formula 1 race is scheduled for May 3 in Miami. After the first three race weekends of the 2026 season, Aston Martin is in eleventh and last place in the Constructors’ World Championship.
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