Lawrence Stroll has defended his son by making surprising excuses

Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Aston Martin team, has defended his son, Lance Stroll, insisting that his failed campaign is down to “bad luck” rather than a lack of competence.

Lance has had a miserable season that began with him missing pre-season testing due to surgery on two broken wrists sustained in a bicycle accident.

While he was given the benefit of the doubt in the early rounds, he’s been soundly defeated by Fernando Alonso throughout the season.

To put it into perspective, Stroll’s greatest result this year has been a P4 at the Australian Grand Prix, where Alonso won his third consecutive podium.

Alonso has claimed seven podiums so far this season, with five races still to add to his total.

The two-time World Champion has been responsible for a whopping 80% of Aston Martin’s points this season and is only five points short of scoring four times as many as his teammate.

This has badly harmed Aston Martin’s standing in the Constructors’ Championship, as their package is capable of contending for second rather than finishing fourth to McLaren this weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

To make matters worse, after being eliminated in Q1, the 24-year-old was seen pushing his personal trainer at the Qatar Grand Prix.

As a result, he received an official warning from the FIA, and numerous fans demanded that he be fired at the end of the season.

For Aston Martin to progress, it appears that either Lance must improve or his father must replace him with a better driver, the latter of which appears doubtful.

Lawrence attributes his son’s difficulties this season to “bad luck” rather than “his own abilities.”

“Lance started the year on the back foot with two broken wrists for the first half-dozen races, which was very challenging, but really did a heroic job – and he’s had an unfortunate amount of bad luck,” Stroll said in a statement to Sky Sports.

“He’s retired nine times because of engine failures or rear-wing failures [at the Japanese Grand Prix].”

“Half of the races it hasn’t been anything to do with his own abilities, he has just had a lot of bad luck, sadly.”