"It's just noise," says Lance Stroll of constant criticism and claims that his seat at Aston Martin is purely down to nepotism.

In all honesty, we at Pitpass must admit to being guilty, for almost every year when publishing the 'Who Goes Where' details for the following season, while a number of drivers' futures are still in doubt, we write "'Dad owns team' alongside Stroll's name.

Truth is that other than the fact that his father does indeed own Aston Martin and that Lance rarely impresses us, we have always been under the impression that he doesn't actually enjoy racing and that he'd rather be doing something else.

We are all aware of those pushy mothers determined to live out their dreams through their children, and maybe young Lance is simply living out his father's fantasy.

Whatever, Lance insists that the criticism is like water of a duck's back.

"I like to see it as just noise," he tells the team's website in a rare interview. "If I buy into it, it bothers me, for sure, but that's where I am fortunate, I have good people around me that I love, that I trust, and I put my attention and value their opinions. I try and live in my world, not the world in that sense.

"There's always going to be criticism," he continues. "People are very short-minded. You have a couple of good races, you're great. You have a couple of bad ones, you suck.

"That's never going to change. That's why being surrounded by important people and valuing the opinion of people that you care about, that you value, that you really know their opinion, is what matters. Don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from."

Strong results in Hungary and Singapore have allowed teammate Fernando Alonso to close to within 4 points, Stroll having opened his 2025 account with a sixth in Melbourne, followed by sevenths at Silverstone, the Hungaroring and Zandvoort.

However, in qualifying the Canadian has yet to out-qualify his veteran teammate this season, failing to get beyond Q1 on twelve occasions.

"We can talk about the podium and the poles, but let's talk about the losses," he says, though there has only ever been one pole and three visits to the podium, the most recent being the Sakhir Grand Prix of 2020. "I think that's where you learn the most about yourself and to grow from those tough moments. I think that's where you really grow as a person, as an athlete, driver, from those struggles, from those hard days."

Like his illustrious teammate he is hoping for bug things next season what with the arrival of Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile, not to mention the Honda power-unit.

"Structure and consistency is really important," says Stroll. "That balance between thinking about racing a lot and then taking time when we're not racing, like little days off, to just switch off the brain, recharge, reset, and then get back into it.

"We all love the highs," he adds. "We all love the champagne celebrations. But it's really in those hard moments, those tough times, that we learn the most about ourselves and we grow."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 14/10/2025 12:51

"Stroll's biggest shortcoming is Qualifying. He reclaims several places during the race regularly. If he could start top 5 on the grid this would be a much different story.

The verdict will be how he fares in a podium winning car. Next season will decider. '27 could be two new drivers.

"

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2. Posted by stoney, 14/10/2025 11:33

"You've not seen the video...

But hey, if you're offended by how other people choose to spend their time, maybe it's not for you."

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3. Posted by Chester, 14/10/2025 11:13

"Watching YouTube videos on how someone falls short? That's what people watch? How someone falls short? That is how they spend their time?"

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4. Posted by stoney, 13/10/2025 19:28

"rocketpoweredmohawk did a great video on YouTube called "This is why people hate you...".
It summarises Lance Stroll really well."

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5. Posted by Fambank, 13/10/2025 16:47

"In other news, Denial is a river in Egypt."

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6. Posted by Burton, 13/10/2025 11:43

"To be fair, his driver coach Nuno Pinto famously doesn't mince his words, so at least from the performance side of things we know Lance is getting the Marko/Patrick Head treatment instead of being molycoddled. Unfortunately, the performance is still abysmal..
"

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7. Posted by Max Noble, 13/10/2025 10:11

"He’s right that one learns from tough times, but one learns from ”How to win” too. I used to think he didn’t *really* enjoy racing too. Now I’m leaning more towards “He hates interviews.” Possibly with a side order of “Who cares what the poor people think?”. Don’t know. Never met him.

He’s done a couple of drives in the wet that impressed me. He’s far from being the worst driver on the grid.

If Alonso is fighting for podiums and a possible championship next year… let’s see where Lance is then…
"

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Criticism is just noise says Stroll

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