Lance Stroll. The title brings with it a wide range of emotions and opinions every time it’s uttered amongst F1 followers.
This F1 fan after all has solely optimistic emotions and opinions relating to him, a indisputable fact that I used to be capable of showcase with my shadowing of him in the course of the Australian Grand Prix in 2024.
A 12 months later, I used to be again within the Melbourne paddock and as soon as once more deliberate to shadow the enigmatic Canadian throughout the weekend.
However this 12 months was going to be just a little bit totally different.
Maybe this so-called ‘solely fan’ title that I’ve given myself for Lance was misguided.
May or not it’s potential that extra of us existed?
Earlier than we get to that, we now have to maneuver again to the Thursday. The normal media day. A day that concerned me sitting at a desk with Lance to get my first alternative to speak with him.
It was an fascinating begin to the session. Minutes earlier than Stroll spoke to the media, his teammate Fernando Alonso had given ten minutes of his time to a packed media gathering.
The minute Alonso left, round two-thirds of the media left with him, leaving a reasonably small pack of journalists remaining to talk with Stroll.
Now this isn’t overly uncommon for a Stroll media session. As mentioned beforehand, Stroll isn’t precisely identified for his lengthy solutions. He likes to maintain it sharp and to the purpose, maintaining a robust exterior wall that only a few individuals get behind.
There was additionally the small indisputable fact that Stroll’s open media session would finish solely 5 minutes earlier than the primary press convention of the 12 months, giving media little or no time to get from the paddock to the press convention within the media centre.
However, regardless of the way you understand this supposed lack of curiosity in Stroll’s open media session, for me, it was nothing however a win. I used to be in a major place to ask him as many questions as I may.
I began off by asking him how his low season was and the way he was feeling heading into his ninth season in F1. His reply was very usually Lance Stroll.
“It was good,” he advised me. “Just like the opposite ones, you understand, simply recharging the batteries a bit, coaching, preparing for the following season, simply the same old stuff, nevertheless it’s been good.”
It was then on to the exhausting hitting stuff: His ideas on Australia being again because the opening spherical of the season.
“It’s a spot I all the time take pleasure in coming again to. I’ve good reminiscences right here,” he mentioned.
“The final couple of years, we had good races right here, good outcomes.
“I just like the monitor, I just like the ambiance across the weekend, so yeah, a spot I take pleasure in coming again to.”
Whereas not fairly a wall breaker, it introduced with it extra phrases and a little bit of a smile.
Lance Stroll. (Picture by Eric Alonso/Getty Pictures)
However I had another ace up my sleeve to actually attempt to crack by way of into one thing totally different. One thing that couldn’t fail when getting deep contained in the thoughts of a Canadian; ice hockey.
Just lately the whole nation of Canada had been swept up in nationwide delight in the course of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face Off match, a match which Canada defeated the US to take house the trophy.
I sniffed my alternative to go in deep for the Canadian jugular and ask him simply what he considered it.
“I watched a few the video games,” he answered with a smile.
“I noticed there was one in Montreal that I didn’t get an opportunity to go to, nevertheless it was good to see us take the W on the finish.”
Good. I had cracked by way of to some extent the place he was beaming with nationwide delight and set a lighter tone to shut out the session.
My subsequent alternative to talk with him didn’t come until Saturday, as the same old submit follow media periods have been canned, making manner for a brand new mannequin of the drivers merely giving one set of solutions to a TV session and never talking to the written press.
I managed to get one thing shocking within the meantime. One thing that would solely add weight to my defence of Stroll.
That one thing was a remark from former F1 driver and present Aston Martin crew ambassador Pedro de la Rosa.
In sitting down with him for an in-depth chat, de la Rosa was fast to defend Stroll once I requested him about whether or not he by no means will get the credit score he actually deserves within the sport.
“He’s among the finest surprises I’ve had in Method One,” de la Rosa mentioned.
“He’s tremendous simple to work with, he’s very skilled, and he simply loves racing.
“He’s similar to Fernando in his dedication, his suggestions is excellent, and I feel he can shock many individuals.
“He positively wants extra respect.”
With phrases like these, it was fast to quash my disappointment of lacking an opportunity to talk with Stroll on Friday.
Which then led me into Saturday. A day that was stuffed with many qualifying surprises, and one which noticed Stroll qualify in thirteenth place, one spot behind teammate Alonso.
As normal, the curiosity from the media within the combined zone for Lance was restricted, giving me an ideal probability to ask him about how he felt he may do within the rain in the course of the race.
“I feel that’s fairly automotive dependent,” he advised me.
“I feel that once you do properly within the moist, the automotive provides you confidence, and once you don’t, the automotive doesn’t, so I feel these issues change fairly shortly.”
A brief and sharp Stroll reply to finish the Saturday, however that might lead right into a Sunday full of pleasure, which began off with an opportunity assembly.
Strolling by way of the followers earlier than the race, I met a bonafide Lance Stroll fan ready on the Melbourne Stroll, full with a big flag plastered with Stroll throughout it and the phrases “Reside Love Lance”.
That fan was Tanya Haywood, who had flown down from Sydney to help Stroll.
When questioned about her fandom for him, in addition to her ideas on him as a driver, she was fast to ring within the reward that was solely music to my ears.
“Final 12 months Alonso had extra crashes than Lance. Statistically, Hamilton had a worse qualifying final 12 months than Lance,” she mentioned.
He’s received extra pole positions than Piastri. He’s not the motive force they make him out to be.
“Anytime he will get a very good race, he’s by no means talked about. He’s solely ever talked about when he has a foul one.”
She mentioned that she wasn’t the one Lance Stroll fan on the circuit that weekend, both.
“I’ve seen a number of others,” she mentioned. “It’s very nice to get to know different individuals and really discuss him in a optimistic mild.”
Lance Stroll. (Picture by Bryn Lennon – Method 1/Method 1 through Getty Pictures)
Was my fixed positivity and reward for him rubbing off and making its manner on the market into the universe?
It appeared as if by some means it was, and that completely happy temper on the Sunday morning was solely going to hold out for the remainder of the day.
Previous to the race, I occurred to stroll previous Stroll as he made his technique to the parade lap. In doing so I supplied him a fast good luck, to which he gave me a thumbs up. This got here off the again of witnessing a pleasant second with him stopping for a photograph with a younger fan within the paddock, including mild to this chilly exterior that he’s usually perceived as having.
After these moments, it was race time. A moist and eventful race would observe, and a robust drive from Stroll noticed him navigate all of the occasions to finish up in a robust sixth place and equal his best-ever begin to a season.
After the rac,e I used to be proper right down to the combined zone to talk to him, the place Stroll spoke of creating his manner by way of the sphere and maintaining his head out of bother in brief and sharp solutions.
Once I was capable of lastly get a query in and ask him about how he felt it will set him up for the remainder of the 12 months, he additionally delivered a really typical Stroll reply to me, albeit in a extra energetic and buoyant temper than normal.
“We have now to maintain pushing and make the automotive sooner,” he advised me. “I feel immediately was a type of races, you understand, we received so much out of it, however we didn’t have loopy good tempo. So yeah.”
Whereas it wasn’t the smile and wink he ended the weekend with me a 12 months in the past, it was nonetheless a good technique to finish one other 12 months of shadowing Stroll round Albert Park – and celebrating the truth that my fandom and defence of him appears to be spreading out wider than I may ever think about.
