EXCLUSIVE: Lance Stroll handed BRUTAL F1 career verdict after family spat

GPFans Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: Stroll handed BRUTAL F1 career verdict after family spat

Jacques Villeneuve has addressed Lance Stroll's performances in Formula 1

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 17 February 2025 19:59 Updated: 18:00

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Lance Stroll has been handed a brutal career verdict by Jacques Villeneuve, after the 1997 champion’s alleged spat with the Aston Martin driver’s family.

Villeneuve has been critical of Stroll’s Formula 1 performances over the course of his career, scrutinising his rookie season with Williams in 2017 and issuing several brutal remarks in 2023.

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The Canadian driver currently races for Aston Martin, a team owned by his father Lawrence Stroll, and will compete in his ninth F1 season in 2025.

Despite three impressive podiums and a pole position, Stroll is yet to secure a race win, and his last podium was earned during the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix where he finished P3.

Jacques Villeneuve has criticised Lance Stroll in the past

Lance Stroll will compete in his ninth F1 season in 2025

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Villeneuve dishes his opinion on Stroll

Speaking to Jim Kimberley exclusively on behalf of GPFans, Villeneuve revealed that he angered the Stroll family after his early verdict on the racing star's career, where he was allegedly banned from the Williams motorhome for his comments.

The 53-year-old also maintained his brutal assessment of Stroll’s career but did congratulate the Aston Martin star for his strong performances in wet weather conditions over the years.

"My early comments were ‘Chill, let's wait and see,’ because there was a lot of building up of Lance, and he hadn't done Formula 2, just came from Formula 3,” Villeneuve said.

"And his teammate was Massa at the time, which was when Williams had Massa and Stroll. Massa, who remember, before going to Williams, was half a second off Alonso. He had lost after his accident."

"So, that was the comparison I said, hey just chill, he's not a full-on F1 driver yet, let's calm down, let's see once he gets in F1 what he's actually really capable of because the fact that he won Formula 3 is meaningless before stepping up to F1."

"A lot of drivers have won F3, F2, and then were useless in F1. It's a different beast."

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Lance Stroll claimed his only pole position in Turkey in 2020

"So my comment wasn't that bad, but everybody was wanting, no, no, it's amazing, and okay, if you want, and that got the Stroll family really angry with me because they were expecting me to just say, oh, it's so amazing, love you, but no, the reality was let's wait and see."

"And it just got overblown, got blown out of proportion. After that, I didn't say much, and everybody got on the bandwagon, but I was still the bad guy."

Villeneuve then discussed Stroll’s abilities in wet weather conditions, with the Canadian memorably taking pole position in the rain at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix.

"I'm not sure what to say. He's had some good moments in the wet, impressive in the wet, and I said so. So it's not a question of just criticizing someone negatively. You also have to criticize them positively when they do something good."

"And every time, actually, he has something in the wet. But too many people say if you're good in the wet, that means you're a great driver. No, it just means you're good in the wet."

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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