Lance Stroll has come to accept his fortunate situation means people will “trash” and “destroy me”.
The Canadian has enjoyed an easier passage to Formula 1 than many, joining Williams in 2017 thanks to a combination of his father’s financial backing and after winning the European F3 championship the previous year.
Now there is a perception that Stroll has a seat for life at Racing Point after Lawrence Stroll bought Force India in 2018, as the decision to drop Sergio Perez for Sebastian Vettel in 2021 proves some would argue.
But when it comes to claims he is only where he is because of his father, the 21-year-old isn’t fussed.
“Every time I would do badly or make a mistake, people would just trash me and just destroy me in the media,” Stroll said on the Pink podcast.
“I think it’s just how it is. I’ve come to that realisation a long time ago already.
“Everyone has their opinion. I just do my talking on the track and I try and stay in my own little bubble and block out the negativity and the outside noise.
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“When you’re successful at something, you’re trying to chase your dreams, there’s some people in this world that if they’re going through frustrations and they’re envious in any shape or form, they try and pull you down with them, that’s the world we live in,” he added.
“So there’ll always be outside noise, there’ll always be negativity. I just try and keep it positive and listen to the people that are close around me, that’s ultimately all that matters.
“You can’t please everyone, you can’t be everyone’s best friend in this world, it doesn’t work like that.”
This season, Stroll has improved thanks to a strong Racing Point car, with his second F1 podium at Monza the highlight so far.
And when things go well, Lance notes, it shows the fickle nature of many people.
“In life as well, friends and stuff – not really friends, but people that I knew – when I would do well a lot of people were my best friend,” he said.
“As well on social media, when I’d do well it would all go quiet. All the hate and all the noise would just disappear, and then when I do bad again it would all come back, it would all restart.
“So I saw that pattern very early on and to be honest, I mean, you’ve got to laugh at it because if you don’t laugh at it, you’d feel like crying. So I’m trying to take it lightly to be honest.”