'Non-existent' Stroll Is 'Above Rules' According To Steiner

Thursday, 17 October 2024 at 14:00

Guenther Steiner discussed the presence of Lance Stroll on the Formula 1 grid as he suggested the Canadian driver is "above the rules."

Lance Stroll is currently 11th in the Drivers' Championship with 24 points. He is 38 points behind his teammate Fernando Alonso, equal on points with Nico Hulkenberg from Haas, and two points ahead of Yuki Tsunoda from VCARB.

During one of the most recent episodes of the Red Flag podcast, former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner discussed how weird it is that no one talks about the Canadian Aston Martin driver in 2024. He said:

"Lance passes completely under the radar. It's weird. You never speak good or bad about him, he's just non-existent."

When asked if he thinks that the sport and Formula One fans just accepted Lance Stroll's presence on the grid, the 59-year-old replied:

"Exactly. I don't think he's a bad race car driver. I don't know what it is. Obviously, we all know that he doesn't need to drive a race car. He's alright [financially], so maybe that's what it is."

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"If the car is not [good enough] to [reach] the podium or something, he's just like: 'Yeah, I just get by. Who cares? I wait until next year's car comes and see if that is better.'"

Stroll's best Grand Prix result this season was a P6 during the third race weekend - the Australian Grand Prix. Altogether, the 25-year-old finished inside the top 10 six times this season.

"He's one of these guys who is rarely spoken about when he's in the points. It's less spoken about when he's not in the points. He's just there."

The former F1 team principal added that he wouldn't even remember that the Canadian Aston Martin driver participated in the latest Grand Prix weekend if the podcast hosts didn't mention his name. He added:

"If you wouldn't have brought him up, I wouldn't have even known that he raced last weekend. I need to go and check the stats because he's just non-visible."