Lance Stroll: The most prolific crasher in the history of Formula 1

Saturday, 30 August 2025 at 20:13

Lance Stroll's career continues its downward spiral as he twice crashed a very handy Aston Martin at Zandvoort this weekend, which has to put him up there as Formula 1's most prolific crasher.

Stroll crashed heavily in FP2 on Friday. Ditto Saturday before even setting a lap time, inexplicably, he got the car on the grass, speared into the wall and delivered a broken AMR25 to the team yet again. Meanwhile, his teammate Fernando Alonso qualified P10, taking his streak of outqualifying his Canadian teammate to 27-0!

Crashing Formula 1 cars is now a habit that has to make Stroll junior the sport's most prolific crasher. The official Aston Martin crash test dummy! No other team would touch the rich kid. He is only on the grid because billionaire father Lawrence Stroll has this warped delusion that his son will be a World Champ one day.

After Saturday's Qualifying debacle, F1 commentator and 2 Soft Compounds Podcast guest Damien Reid quipped about Stroll's wardeness: "Such a talent. Finding ‘walls of champions’ where they’ve never existed before."

It's true! Since debuting in Formula 1 at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, 26-year-old Stroll has accumulated a long list of crashes and major collisions across nine seasons. His first came in practice at Albert Park when he hit the wall and required a gearbox change.

That year he was also eliminated on the first lap in China, hit by Carlos Sainz in Bahrain, and memorably tangled with Sebastian Vettel on the cool-down lap in Malaysia.

Stroll has got worse and worse since his best season in 2020

The 2018 season brought another big crash in Canada when he and Brendon Hartley ended their races in the wall. In 2019, he collided with Lando Norris in Spain and Pierre Gasly in Abu Dhabi.

Stroll’s 2020 season was particularly incident-heavy: a high-speed crash at Mugello, a first-lap accident in Sochi after contact with Charles Leclerc, a clash with Norris in Portugal that earned him a penalty, and a dramatic flip in Bahrain after contact with Daniil Kvyat.

In 2021, he crashed twice in Azerbaijan—once in qualifying and again in the race due to a tyre blowout—before triggering the infamous multi-car pile-up at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Two qualifying crashes in Baku and a dangerous collision with Fernando Alonso in Austin punctuated 2022.

The following year, he retired in Monaco after multiple barrier hits, crashed heavily in Singapore qualifying, and was taken out in a clash with Valtteri Bottas in Mexico.

In 2024, his low points included a heavy crash in Saudi Arabia, rear-ending Daniel Ricciardo in China, and colliding with Alex Albon in Qatar. This season has already seen him penalised in Monaco after an unsafe rejoin with Charles Leclerc, a crash in Canadian practice, and most recently, a heavy FP2 accident at Zandvoort’s banked Turn 3.

A long and always growing catalogue of expensive bent metal

Hartley, Stroll crash, accident, shunt, DNF

Stroll’s record highlights a recurring pattern of high-profile crashes and costly collisions throughout his junior and Formula 1 career. Here is a timeline compiled by ChatGPT and verified by Grok, his catalogue of bending metal in the top flight:

2017

Australia FP3: Crashed the Williams at Turn 10 in final practice on debut weekend. Required a gearbox change.
China GP Lap 1: Out in first-lap collision.
Bahrain GP: Taken out in pit-exit collision with Sainz at Turn 1.
Malaysia GP cool-down lap: Low-speed collision with Vettel after the flag.

2018

Canada GP Lap 1: Heavy crash with Hartley into the wall. Both retired.

2019

Spain GP: Collision with Norris at Turn 2. Safety Car, DNF.
Abu Dhabi GP Lap 1: Contact with Gasly at the start, Gasly lost front wing. Stroll later retired with brakes, but the opening-lap collision is recorded.

2020

Tuscan GP Mugello: High-speed crash at Arrabbiata 2 due to suspected failure. Red flag.
Russian GP Sochi Lap 1: Punted into the wall by Leclerc, DNF.
Portuguese GP Portimão: Collided with Norris at Turn 1. Five-second penalty and licence points.
Bahrain GP: Car flipped after contact with Kvyat. Walked away, DNF.

2021

Azerbaijan GP qualifying: Q1 crash at Baku Turn 15, red flag.
Azerbaijan GP race: Left-rear tyre failure triggered a high-speed crash on the main straight.
Hungarian GP Lap 1: Triggered a multi-car pile-up by hitting Leclerc. Five-place grid penalty for next race.

2022

Australia GP qualifying: Tangled with Latifi in Q1, both in the wall. Grid penalty for Stroll.
Azerbaijan GP qualifying: Two crashes in Q1 within minutes, second caused a red flag.
United States GP Austin: Made a late move on the straight and collided with Alonso at high speed. Three-place grid penalty for Mexico.

2023

Monaco GP: Multiple hits, front-wing loss and barrier contact in the wet, then retirement.
Singapore GP qualifying: Massive Q1 crash at final corner, red flag. Withdrew from the race on medical grounds.
Mexico City GP: Collision with Bottas late in the race, Stroll retired. Bottas penalised.

2024

Saudi Arabia GP: Crashed at Jeddah, heavy impact into the wall, DNF.
Chinese GP: Rear-ended Ricciardo at Safety Car restart. Ten-second penalty, Ricciardo’s race ruined.
Qatar GP: Lap-1 clash with Albon caused race-ending damage for Stroll. Ten-second penalty and penalty points.

2025

Monaco FP1: Hit by Leclerc after rejoining the fast lane unsafely at the hairpin. Stroll deemed wholly to blame, one-place grid penalty.
Canada FP2: Practice crash at Turn 7 on return from hand and wrist pain layoff.
Dutch GP Zandvoort FP2: Lost it into banked Turn 3, heavy right-side hit. Red flag, driver OK.
Dutch GP Zandvoort Qualifying: Lost control and speared into the wall. No lap time set.