Lance Stroll “100% deserves” his place in Formula 1 despite the perception he is only there because of his father, Jenson Button says.
The Canadian is currently in his fourth season on the grid after debuting as an 18-year-old at Williams in 2017, fresh from winning the European F3 championship the year before.
But of course, along with his junior formula success, the other main motivation for the British team to sign him was the millions in backing from sponsors linked to his father Lawrence Stroll.
That immediately led to Lance being labelled as a ‘pay driver’, and that view was only worsened when his father bought Force India in 2018, renamed it Racing Point and brought over his son to replace Esteban Ocon for 2019.
Yet despite that, it is often forgotten he is a podium scorer in F1, and Button believes the perception most have of Stroll is unfair.
“I really feel for Lance because it is not an easy position to be in,” the 2009 F1 champion told the In The Fast Lane podcast.
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“He knows what people think of him – he’s the gifted driver that his Dad has basically bought a team for him.
“In one way you can say he’s so lucky but I don’t think he’s lucky at all. I feel for the guy, because there’s so much pressure put on him, and everyone thinks he is in Formula 1 because of his father.
“But he’s achieved – he won everything on the way through to Formula 1, he’s put in some fantastic results and drives, in Barcelona he finished fourth, he beat Checo [Sergio Perez], he did a great job and he has many times.
“The consistency isn’t there, whether he’s enjoying it himself or not I don’t know, it’s very difficult to tell with Lance, but he 100 per cent deserves to be in Formula 1.
“Has he had more opportunities than others? Yes, but I think that’s put more pressure on him, so fair play to him.”
Another example of the kind of privilege Stroll is perceived to have comes from how he seemingly has a seat for life at his father’s team.
And that view isn’t helped by speculation that Sebastian Vettel will replace Sergio Perez for 2021, even though the Mexican has regularly outperformed Lance since the start of last year.
As for Button’s view on Checo, he knows him quite well after they teamed up at McLaren back in 2013.
“When we were teammates he wasn’t the most consistent, some races he would just arrive and Bahrain he was so fast,” he recalled.
“I don’t know if he understood why he was so fast, but other circuits that didn’t suit his style really hurt him, like Shanghai, where it is front-limited.
“He had a very unusual driving style that suited some tracks. I don’t know if that’s still the case but he is extremely quick, a real fighter, he’s grown as a driver, he’s confident in his ability, he understands the bigger picture, it’s a long season.
“We saw that in Austria, a couple of moves people made on him he gave up quite quickly but I think it was the right thing to do. He’s thinking about points.”
