Lance Stroll signing a multi-year Formula 1 contract extension with Aston Martin is probably the least surprising bit of 2025 driver market news so far.
But it's still a move with consequences – especially given that the new deal will mean he'll race alongside Fernando Alonso when Aston Martin teams up with Honda on the new Formula 1 rules in 2026. They'll also benefit from the first Aston F1 car to be developed entirely in the team's new wind tunnel.
Here's how this affects the rest of the grid as well as Aston's outlook:
Poor performance is not a major concern
Aston is clearly not worried about the tough patches Stroll often finds himself in.
He trails Alonso's points total by 17-41 so far in 2025, and you could make a strong argument that he cost Aston fourth in the constructors' championship last year to McLaren – although his pre-season injury played its part too.
This year, he has a qualifying deficit of about two-tenths of a second over Alonso and has three third qualifying starts to Alonso's six.
It is by no means a whitewash within the team – especially against a worthy driver Alonso – and is a far cry from the miserable run Stroll endured after the summer break last year.
But Aston still wants to have one driver contribute half the points as his teammate, putting the team in a similar camp to Red Bull in the top five with one star driver (Max Verstappen and Alonso respectively) and a second driver (Sergio Perez and Stroll) who has little hope of becoming the team's spearhead.
Red Bull gave Perez a contract extension in the middle of a poor run of results. At least Stroll's extension comes after a series of races where he was relatively close (and sometimes ahead) of Alonso in qualifying and races.
Red Bull and Aston have weaknesses that Ferrari (Charles Leclerc/Lewis Hamilton) and McLaren (Lando Norris/Oscar Piastri) do not have before 2025. It remains to be seen how much that will cost them.
On the evidence of a very harmonious partnership between Alonso and Stroll, there will at least be no team division fighting for supremacy between the Aston drivers.
In fact, Alonso noted that he had never had a teammate like Stroll in his two decades in Formula One and reiterated his hope that Stroll would lead the team upon his exit.
“It's great news, he knows the team well and apart from two years at Williams, he's spent his career in this environment with the same group of people. He can make things better.” [by] “Knowing what Aston was in the past, what it is now, how things have changed for better or for worse, he has all that background,” Alonso said when asked about the Stroll deal.
“We get along very well, so for me personally, it's positive news to be able to work with someone who thinks in the same direction and helps the team, not his individual desires.
“He is a dedicated person and very committed to his work. He does a lot of work in the simulator and we were always in constant conversation about the team and things in the car. Until the last two days we have been communicating via WhatsApp – constantly since Barcelona.
“I don't remember that kind of relationship with my other teammates.
“Even when I'm not driving, I hope Lance takes over this team and I'll support him even when I'm not behind the wheel.”
There is no WEC move for the walk
Since Aston Martin revealed its plans to enter two cars in the top category of the World Endurance Championship by 2025, it was easy to wonder whether that could be a way for Stroll to continue racing for Aston, whether the Formula 1 team chose to replace him. Or Stroll wanted a smaller racing schedule.
This certainly won't happen for Aston's first two years in the WEC at least.
Stroll's apparent ambivalence towards Formula 1 is often talked about, but he has repeatedly said he loves racing and it is easy to see why he remains a presence in a team that claimed eight podiums with team-mate Alonso last year and has invested heavily to return to the championship. Front, you will be attractive.
There are very few racing drivers on Earth who would turn down a long-term deal with a factory Formula 1 team when their options for remaining in Formula 1 otherwise – especially with a factory team – are slim.
Such a long-term commitment should stifle any further talk of Stroll trading in his Aston F1 car for an Aston Martin Valkyrie supercar (or a tennis career) for the time being – especially since Stroll says the idea of competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Aston is “off-put.” “It doesn't exist anymore.” “It didn't occur to me.”
Tsunoda's Honda extension has closed
Yuki Tsunoda's hopes of landing a seat in Honda's factory team that will become Aston Martin in 2026 were already slim despite doing an impressive job as RB's spearhead driver.
Tsunoda's chances of landing the seat based on his ties with Honda have long been exaggerated, and realistically nationality has never been the main deciding factor in determining the starting line-up of Aston Martin and Honda drivers. Honda, the engine partner, can make its recommendations on drivers, but has no authority over who actually occupies the seats.
However, Tsunoda may have had faint hopes of convincing Aston to sign him on merit given how he outperformed eight-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull II team.
Red Bull has already taken up its option with him for 2025 and Stroll’s extension means one potential route to 2026 is now completely closed. If we were to assume that any of Sauber, Alpine, Haas and Williams would sign multi-year deals, that would leave the remaining Red Bull family as Tsunoda’s best chance of being on the grid in 2026.
There is no wildcard for Alonso or the market
Stroll's extension means Alonso He should Hamilton is expected to remain Aston Martin's main driver for the next two seasons undisputed, meaning he will not face the kind of battle within the team for supremacy that Norris, Leclerc and George Russell will face in 2025.
No driver will admit it but this is a dream scenario and means that if Aston does the right thing in 2026 (or sooner) Alonso will certainly be the biggest beneficiary.
This also means that there is no development for those who do not have a contract for next year.
If Aston had shifted its focus to, say, Carlos Sainz, surely it would have made a better case than Audi, Williams and Alpine?
Now Sainz's selection among those teams has been confirmed. And all the other free agents like Valtteri Bottas still know they'll have to pick from what Sainz has left behind – there won't be any Lewis Hamilton-style development to Ferrari at Aston Martin at least.
