Topsy-turvy Chinese Grand Prix ends on a high for Lance Stroll

What a week it has been, coming off the 2025 F1-season opener in Melbourne just one week ago, the next Grand Prix quickly followed up. Formula 1 hit the ground running in Shanghai, China, this weekend. After a rain-soaked event last week, this racetrack would answer a lot of questions about the pecking order among the teams. Behind the dominant McLarens, who finished first and second, quite the excitement unfolded in the mid-pack in China. One driver that particularly stood out to me in the feisty wheel to wheel battles, was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, retrieved from Sportguide.

The Shanghai International Circuit provided a great show across the entire weekend. Being a sprint weekend, the drivers and teams had to be on their toes immediately, as they could only get one hour of practice in before a qualifying session and a short race. The trickiest thing about this track is tire management, since its long, flowing corners put loads of energy through the front tires of the car. After the Saturday sprint, everyone assessed tires would be critical during the full Grand Prix on Sunday. Most were certain a minimum of two tire changes would be required to finish the race. With all teams having been able to adjust setups of the cars between the sprint and Grand Prix qualifying, the order changed quite a bit.

Stroll’s Chinese Grand Prix debrief

Only just did Lance Stroll miss out on points in the sprint, having gained one position from tenth on the grid during the race. The Canadian was unable to get back to this level of pace for Grand Prix qualifying, leaving him with a starting position of fourteenth. The 24-year-old lined up right behind his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso. Lance Stroll was one of the few drivers who took a gamble in starting on the hard tire compound, which is supposed to have the least amount of grip but last the longest out of the compounds available. No one had used this compound before, as qualifying sessions and the sprint require some short lasting grippy tires to succeed.

To anyone’s surprise, really, the hard tires would prove to be the ultimate racewear for the Chinese Grand Prix. Most people who started on the medium compound, had pitted about fifteen laps into the fifty-six-lap long race. This promoted Stroll into third place momentarily, but the leaders swiftly flew by, leaving him in a battle with Haas’ rookie driver Oliver Bearman. Both the Brit and the Aston Martin driver had extended their first stints further than anyone else, in the last twenty laps this would leave them in a beneficiary position with fresh medium tires compared to the hard tires the rest of the grid was running.

Battle between Stroll and Bearman during the Chinese Grand Prix before their pit stops, retreived from F1.com.

Bearman pitted early as he was unable to pass Stroll, his initial laps were way faster than any of his opponents, however he was stuck in a train of slower cars and was unable to make any moves stick. As Stroll pitted from seventh, which put him right in the mix with Bearman again, the rest of the drivers had changed their minds on the two-stop strategies. This meant that the whole grid was now going to the end, and as Stroll’s mediums faded after ten racing laps, he was unable to claw himself back up into the top ten. Would the race have unfolded with a mandatory second stop for most, who knows where the Canadian might have ended up.

Stellar performances for Stroll in the 2025 F1 season

"It was tough out there and unfortunately we fell outside the points with a P12 finish. I thought the race was coming to us but as it progressed it ended up being a one-stop race for most,” Stroll reflected after the race, as he continued: “It was nice to have some good battles out there though, but ultimately, we just aren't quick enough, and we have a lot of work to do until we can finish in the points comfortably." Team Principal at Aston Martin, Mike Krack, outed his surprise on the tire situation as well: “In the end, both the Hard and Medium tires held up well today, allowing the majority of cars to stop only once and it was difficult for us to exploit a tire advantage in the final stint.”

Regardless of him finishing just shy of the points paying positions, Stroll’s overall performance in the first two Grand Prix weekends impressed me. He has matched his teammate Alonso, a two-time world champion, in all qualifying sessions so far and dragged the Aston Martin up into the points in an incredibly tricky Australian Grand Prix. He made yet another statement by showcasing formidable tire management and defensive work during the race in Shanghai. How he stacks up against Alonso in Grands Prix, however, cannot be judged yet as the Spaniard had two rather unlucky retirements in both races so far.

It is no secret that Lance is a driver with a reputation in the sport. For starters, his dad Lawrence Stroll has invested in, or owned, both teams Stroll has driven for, so he does not quite have the same pressure as other drivers get each year defending their contracts. Additionally, he had his rather stupid moments in the sport, like any driver has at times. But he is also a driver who has podiums and a pole position to his name, even though he never had the fastest car available to him. Stroll is one of those drivers that usually pulls through on tricky days, especially in wet weather, and so far in 2025 has managed to showcase his underrated capabilities behind the wheel.

Double trouble at Ferrari

A couple of hours after the race, Stroll would be rewarded for his bold strategy move. As three cars ahead of him all got disqualified for technical infringements of the regulations. Gasly, who had missed out on points in eleventh, was disqualified along with both Ferrari drivers, Hamilton and Leclerc. Stroll therefore inherited ninth place and scored two points in the championship.

Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc who would be disqualified after the Chinese Grand Prix, photo by AFP, retrieved from Getty.

Aston Martin is not quite where they would want to be in terms of performance, but it is evident their eyes are set on 2026 as new car regulations will shake up the grid. With Adrian Newey on board, who designed championship winning cars since the nineties with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, and the multi billion-dollar budget of team-owner Lawrence Stroll their package for 2026 is expected to be rather competitive.