Lance Stroll — 2024 season

Lance Stroll's 2024 Formula 1 season saw him finish 13th in the Drivers' Championship with 24 points, a campaign characterized by flashes of pace amidst a broader struggle for consistent top-ten finishes within the competitive ground-effect era.

Going in

Heading into 2024, Aston Martin aimed to build on their strong start to the previous season, which had seen them emerge as a genuine contender in the early races. The tunnel-floor ground-effect regulations, coupled with 18-inch wheels and simplified aero, continued to define the technical landscape, demanding precise car development. For Stroll, the objective was clear: establish a more consistent presence in the points and reduce the performance gap to his highly experienced teammate. The field had notably closed up compared to the Red Bull-dominated 2022–2023 seasons, meaning any misstep in qualifying or race execution carried a higher penalty, pushing midfield battles to their limits.

How it played out

Stroll's season began with a point in Bahrain, finishing 10th after starting 12th. A promising 6th place finish at the Australian Grand Prix, starting from 9th, suggested a potential for strong results. However, this early momentum proved difficult to sustain. The subsequent races saw a string of finishes outside the points, including a retirement in Saudi Arabia due to an accident on lap 5. Qualifying proved to be a persistent challenge; Stroll frequently found himself starting in the lower half of the grid, with 16th in Japan and 17th in Austria and Italy highlighting particular difficulties. While he secured a solid 7th place at his home race in Canada, starting 9th, and another 7th at Silverstone, these were isolated highs in a season where points often eluded him. For context on how drivers adapt to evolving regulations, one might look at George Russell — 2022 season when the current ground-effect era began.

Defining moments

One of Stroll's strongest performances came at the Australian Grand Prix, where he converted a P9 start into a P6 finish, securing 8 points and demonstrating the car's potential on certain circuits. Conversely, the São Paulo Grand Prix marked a low point, with an accident on lap 0 leading to an immediate DNF, mirroring an earlier accident in Saudi Arabia. The latter half of the season, particularly after the summer break, saw a significant dip in form, with Stroll failing to score points in the final ten races. This period included further DNFs in Azerbaijan (brakes) and Qatar (collision damage). The consistent collection of data, as tracked by services like , underscores the fluctuating nature of performance throughout a demanding F1 calendar, a challenge faced by many drivers, including those in their formative years like .