Strong Lance Stroll supporter admits Aston Martin now facing ‘a crossroads’

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin F1 Team, puts on his crash helmet

Aston Martin are at a “crossroads” says Johnny Herbert as they won’t progress unless they have two drivers “doing the job”, and today Lance Stroll is struggling.

Once again lagging behind his team-mate Fernando Alonso in all the stats that matter, Stroll didn’t do himself any favours when he caused a multi-car crash at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Is time up for ‘struggling’ Lance Stroll?

Heading towards the hairpin behind the Safety Car as the drivers prepared for the restart, the 25-year-old rear-ended the braking Daniel Ricciardo who in turn hit Oscar Piastri.

Ricciardo was forced to retire his VCARB01 with damage while Piastri, despite contending with a shattered diffuser, held on to finish in eighth place. As for Stroll, he was down in 15th place having served a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

Ricciardo was livid with the Canadian, especially after hearing that Stroll had called him an “idiot”, with Piastri pointing out that Stroll’s excuse that the cars ahead of him braked sharply creating a “concertina effect” didn’t cut it as “everyone else didn’t crash” in the cars ahead.

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack was quick to defend his driver, calling it a “harsh” penalty with his drivers (Fernando Alonso also penalised in the Sprint) easy targets for the race stewards.

But while Herbert wants to defend Stroll as he believes the Canadian is also an easy target for criticism, even he believes the time has come for Aston Martin to re-evaluate their driver line-up.

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The former driver told Fastest Payout Online Casino as per the Mirror: “Lance gets criticised unfairly sometimes because his dad is a Canadian billionaire who has got the team and Lance is in the team and critics say he is there only because of that. He has been on pole position, he has led races in F1 and shown some real speed.

“He won the European F3 Championship which isn’t easy and did so even when people were saying his dad owned the team. You still have to pedal it, still do the job in the car. He does do that.

“But he’s not having a good time of it this season. He is struggling. He had a bit of a tough time last year too.

“I’ve always backed him because he has put in some good showings. But is he going to be a World Champion? Probably not because he is not consistent enough.

“He and Aston Martin are at a crossroads… To improve and move forward you have got to have both your drivers doing the job that is expected of them – it doesn’t matter who you are.

“You have either got to beat your team-mate or be there or thereabouts and that is not quite happening.”

Stroll has scored nine points to Alonso’s 31 with Aston Martin fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.