25-year-old is only ‘60/40’ to retain 2025 seat, current levels not acceptable

Follow us on Google Discover

So many teams are considering changing up their driver line-ups for 2025 and Aston Martin are no different, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both coming to the end of their current deals.

Both Aston Martin drivers are entering the final years of their contracts and despite the Canadian’s unique relationship with the team, he’s far from guaranteed a seat on the grid.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm believes that right now there’s only at best a 60% chance of Lance Stroll retaining his seat alongside Fernando Alonso.

Aston Martin stunned the Formula 1 world 12 months ago when they suddenly propelled themselves to the front of the grid.

The likes of Mercedes and Ferrari could only watch as the racing green-liveried team pushed Red Bull all the way in the opening races of the season.

Fernando Alonso’s decision to make the switch from Alpine appears to be inspired, securing eight podiums during his first campaign with the British team.

Unfortunately, his success only highlighted the gap between him and Stroll who failed to secure a top-three finish throughout 2023.

There’s now a chance that Aston Martin decide to part ways with Stroll heading into 2025.

Despite the fact his father Lawrence is the chairman of the team, eventually, they have to put results first.

The Canadian finished last season strongly, but he needs to maintain those levels throughout 2024 to earn a new deal.

Aston Martin and Lance Stroll could part way before 2025

Speaking about Aston Martin’s line-up, Mitchell-Malm said: “I think there’s a degree of doubt over both drivers. I don’t think either is 100% for 2025.

“I don’t think it will go as far as an all-new driver line-up for Aston Martin. My gut feeling is that [Fernando] Alonso will stay, but I think [Lance] Stroll is kind of 50/50 maybe 60/40 likely to stay because it’s basically dependent I think on how he performs.

“I think if he had another season like 2023 where there genuinely some cases of misfortune in that season that didn’t help but it wasn’t the overall reason why he was so inferior to Alonso.

“So, I don’t think in terms of what that team wants to achieve, I don’t think Aston Martin regardless of who owns the team, who’s the chairman, would accept that level of performance longer-term.

“But I also don’t think Stroll himself will want to be in Formula 1 if that is his long-term future just being a teammate to someone who’s scored eight podiums through a season and Stroll gets nowhere near a podium.

“I think there’s a reasonable chance that Alonso has a new teammate in 2025 but I would say one given his scenario within the team, the circumstances, and two that he clearly isn’t a driver without ability, it’s in Stroll’s hands.”

Stroll’s reputation has been shaky at times in Formula 1 although Eddie Jordan revealed at the end of the season that he had changed his mind on the 25-year-old.

Aston Martin will recognise they’re in a strong position to kick on right now and if Stroll can’t close the gap to Alonso then finding a new teammate for the Spaniard ahead of the 2025 season might be a good decision.

However, if he can produce more ‘mighty’ drives like he did in Las Vegas, then there will always be a space on the grid for him.