– Aston Martin has had a difficult time in the first ten races of the 2026 Formula 1 season: While Fernando Alonso was able to collect a World Championship point in Monaco due to fortunate circumstances, teammate Lance Stroll still stands empty-handed.
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The Canadian has recorded seven retirements and celebrated his best result at his home race in Montreal with 15th place. However, the 27-year-old doesn’t put much stock in the often-used cliché that difficult times bring the greatest learning effect.
“I’ve had some pretty bad cars over the years. It might be surprising, but you don’t learn that much from it,” Stroll clarifies before the Hungarian Grand Prix (all sessions in the live ticker). “You just race with the material you have available.”
“If the package is good enough to win: great,” adds the Aston Martin driver. “If you have a package that’s six seconds behind the fastest car, then that’s just how it is; I just grit my teeth and keep going.”
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Stroll continues to believe “in a promising future”
However, there can be no talk of a great learning effect; rather, the opposite is true: “There were certainly moments when I was four or five laps behind the leader. That’s not much fun, of course, but it’s part of it.”
“Some drivers have good cars, others don’t – that’s just how Formula 1 is,” adds Stroll, who continues to believe in Aston Martin’s potential. “I’ve often said in these interviews that I firmly believe in a promising future for our team.”
“We’re not where we want to be at the moment, but that doesn’t change my confidence in the team and what we can achieve,” says the Canadian. All hopes now rest on the major update package that will debut at the Hungaroring near Budapest.
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