The 2026 regulations overhaul<\/a> has a few key changes: the cars will be smaller and lighter and thus, in theory, better able to overtake on track. The cars are narrower and the minimum weight has been reduced by 30 kilograms; new power units run on sustainable fuels and with an even split between internal combustion engine and electric power; and a new aerodynamic system features movable front and rear wings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s this big of a shakeup \u2026 everyone\u2019s saying it\u2019s the biggest change they\u2019ve had in the history of the sport. It\u2019s a fresh sheet of paper,\u201d Hinchcliffe said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s everything. Every single team \u2026 every single driver thinks, \u2018Hey 2026 is going to be our year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Lance Stroll\u2019s father, Lawrence Stroll, is a Canadian billionaire and part owner of Aston Martin, as well as the owner of the Aston Martin F1 team. And he\u2019s made his mission clear<\/a>: to see the team win the drivers’ or constructors\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n In pursuit of that dream, he invested in a new facility<\/a> at the team\u2019s U.K. headquarters estimated at $388 million Cdn. It houses a new driver simulator (a life-sized training machine that replicates driving an F1 car) and state-of-the-art wind tunnel (a giant machine that blasts air at a scale model of the car to test the aerodynamic design).<\/p>\n The team also has an exclusive partnership with Honda to develop and supply its power units for 2026, giving Aston Martin more control than if Honda were supplying multiple teams. Honda supplied the power unit for Red Bull driver Max Verstappen\u2019s four consecutive World Driver\u2019s Championships (from 2021 to 2024).<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of hope that all of those aspects coming together can produce something great for [2026], alongside the rule change that gives them this opportunity,\u201d said Bernie Collins, Sky Sports F1 analyst and former head of race strategy for Aston Martin.<\/p>\n The team has another massive advantage: it managed to lure Adrian Newey<\/a>, widely regarded as the greatest designer in F1<\/a>. Cars he designed or had a hand in have won 12 Constructors\u2019 Championships and 14 Drivers\u2019 Championships.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the other piece of the secret sauce. It\u2019s undeniable what he\u2019s done,\u201d Hinchcliffe said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a one-track mind and that is: build the fastest race car possible. And if you look at his stats, at least half the time he does that.\u201d<\/p>\n Stroll is the 15th Canadian F1 driver and one of only four to score points. Jacques Villeneuve is the only Canadian driver to have ever won a World Drivers\u2019 Championship \u2014 and Newey oversaw the development of the car he won in.<\/p>\n The 2026 season is a big opportunity for Canadian fans, especially in what\u2019s traditionally been a European-dominated sport.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s changing. F1 is one of the fastest growing sports in the world<\/a>, thanks in large part to the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. Its audience grew 12 per cent in 2024, and the Canadian fan base<\/a> reported a 31.5 per cent jump that same year.<\/p>\n But being the sole Canadian driver could bring its own set of challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can imagine if the car came out and was really good next year, by the time they get to Canada [the Montreal Grand Prix] the hype would be phenomenal,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think [Stroll] will feel that pressure.\u2026 It definitely does carry a greater weight of expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n WATCH | A 2016 profile on Stroll when he joined F1: Lance Stroll: Young, fast and Canadian<\/p>\n 18-year-old Canadian racing prodigy Lance Stroll joins Formula One.<\/p>\n Hinchcliffe, a six-time IndyCar winner who competed from 2011 to 2021, knows that pressure first-hand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a little extra element that you think about when you go to bed at night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to give Canadians something to cheer for, and it is something that weighs on you for sure. And I\u2019m sure Lance feels the same way, especially having a home Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n But Stroll has his share of critics, those who point to his inconsistent performance as proof that he doesn’t deserve one of the most coveted seats in motorsport and wouldn’t be there without his dad’s backing.<\/p>\n A running joke in the fandom is that the grid is made up of 19 of the world\u2019s best drivers \u2014 and Lance Stroll.\u00a0<\/p>\n He’s a meme in F1 circles, every mistake a punchline.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But Hinchcliffe insists Stroll shouldn\u2019t be counted out.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody that tries to argue that Lance isn\u2019t talented or doesn\u2019t have the talent to be in Formula One, they\u2019re wrong about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe kid\u2019s an incredibly quick driver, he proved that throughout the ranks moving up. You don\u2019t get podiums in Formula One being a below average racing driver.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2016, Stroll was the Formula Three champion at the age of 17<\/a>. He won 14 races and stood atop 20 podiums that season. But he\u2019s never found that same level of form since entering F1.<\/p>\n Collins, who worked at Aston Martin from 2020 to 2022, said the criticism aimed at Stroll is too harsh.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he the best driver on the grid? Then probably not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe analogy I use sometimes is you can look at the 400-metre sprint and the person who\u2019s come in second last.\u2026 If you put someone normal running next to them, that would still look really, really impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Cadence Wille is a B.C.-based F1 influencer who produces content under the handle @cadencebraking on Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n Wille, who\u2019s been watching F1 since 2020, doesn\u2019t think Stroll is quite as bad as his reputation might suggest.<\/p>\n \u201cIn tricky conditions, he seems to be able to pull out some pretty impressive results in conditions especially that other drivers might really struggle in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Stroll\u2019s first and only qualifying pole position took place during wet-weather conditions at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix<\/a>, although he ultimately finished ninth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stroll, now 27, finished 16th out of 21 drivers in 2025, with 33 points and zero podiums. That\u2019s 23 points behind his veteran teammate Fernando Alonso and 390 points behind the current World Driver\u2019s Champion, Lando Norris.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite a tough year, Collins said Stroll has the work ethic to take his performance to the next level with the right car.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is hope that Lance, with the car improving, can improve form and improve ability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cLance is still very young, and [this] year is going to be all about adapting and learning. So potentially the younger drivers have a slight upper hand there. And I think he will adapt pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Wille thinks a championship in 2026 is farfetched but agrees the car is the great unknown.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes we see drivers get the opportunity to control a race from the front and they just fly. They make it work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen Stroll in that position so we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n And that, Hinchcliffe said, is what makes F1 so compelling.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a super exciting season \u2026 there\u2019s so many unknowns going into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201c2026 offers a lot of hope for [Aston Martin], for Lance, for Canadian fans. So watch this space. We\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans will get their first look at Aston Martin\u2019s new car<\/a> on Feb. 9 and it will hit the track for the first time during pre-season testing<\/a> a few days later. The season officially kicks off<\/a> in Australia on March 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s lone Formula One driver has spent his career plagued by the claim that he hasn\u2019t earned his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-423459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993389_195_default.jpg\")
James Hinchcliffe, an F1TV commentator and Canadian racing driver, believes Stroll could be fighting for podiums in 2026. (Alex O’Connor)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993389_480_default.jpg\")
Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll is part owner of Aston Martin, as well as the owner of the Aston Martin F1 team. (Stephanie Lecocq\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993389_775_default.jpg\")
Adrian Newey, seen here arriving at the Lusail International Circuit in 2025, is seen by many as the greatest designer in F1. (Rula Rouhana\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993390_66_default.jpg\")
Stroll, seen at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in 2023, is the 15th Canadian Formula One driver. (Mathieu Belanger\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993390_340_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993391_453_default.jpg\")
Stroll crashes during qualifying at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore in 2023. (Caroline Chia\/Pool\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993391_497_default.jpg\")
Stroll, seen here after finishing third at the Italian Grand Prix in 2020, has claimed three podiums in F1. (Jennifer Lorenzini\/Pool\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993391_385_default.jpg\")
Bernie Collins, seen at the launch of the McLaren Artura Spider in 2024, believes Stroll has what it takes to adapt to the new car quickly. (Jeff Spicer \/Getty Images for McLaren Automotive Limited)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993392_292_default.jpg\")
Cadence Wille, a B.C.-based F1 influencer, seen during a visit to the Aston Martin garage. (Submitted by Cadence Wille)<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768993392_599_default.jpg\")
Stroll drives the 2025 Aston Martin car during the Canadian Grand Prix on on June 15, 2025, in Montreal. Fans will get their first look at Aston Martin\u2019s 2026 car on Feb. 9. (Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n