Hill praises Stroll Snr for ‘proving everyone wrong’

1996 Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill says that Lawrence Stroll has “proved everyone wrong” with his Aston Martin F1 project.

The Silverstone-based team began the 2023 season in high form in Bahrain, taking a third-place finish through Fernando Alonso.

Stroll has invested heavily in the team ever since he bought it midway through the 2018 campaign, and made the transition from Racing Point to Aston Martin in 2021.

At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Aston Martin had a claim of being the second-fastest team – but Hill doesn’t believe that its form will materialise into a title challenge.

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“I think that might be a stretch too far,” he told Sky Sports News. 

“They’ve exceeded everyone’s expectations, they’ve exceeded mine, and they’ve probably exceeded their own so they’re very, very delighted at the moment.”

But Hill has praised Stroll for his achievements, indicating that many people told him he was going to lose money.

“Lawrence has put his money where his mouth is and he’s put together this team and I think everyone thought ‘come on Lawrence, you know you’re going lose a lot of money here, you’re getting a little bit ahead of yourself.’  

“But he proved everyone wrong. He’s put together this team, has put together the car. They’ve got Dan Fallows, who is ex-Red Bull and he knows a thing or two about what Red Bull are up to. 

“So there’s a little bit of insight but they certainly won’t be getting any help from Red Bull from now on.

“A great performance and [they] actually overshadowed the Mercedes team. Poor old Lewis [Hamilton] and George Russell. 

“This was a race that Toto [Wolff] described as the worst day in motor racing. I mean, they were humiliated, they were beaten by a customer car.”

Ahead of Alonso at the finish line was the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Red Bull dominated the race, in what was an ominous opener for the reigning World Champions.

“I think there was some very forlorn-looking team bosses down the pits,” Hill added. “It was a case of they [Red Bull] just cleaned up, and they disappeared into the distance.  

“You couldn’t really forgive them for not knowing who was in the lead because poor old Max was out there doing his business, half a minute up the road. 

“The rest of them were tripping over the rails with the exception, of course of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, which really for me was the winner of the race.

“I mean he put on the show, he put a fantastic dice on with Lewis Hamilton. So there was action there and got the crowd on their feet.”