Former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert has warned Lance Stroll that he is not immune from losing his Aston Martin seat despite the ownership of the team by his father, Lawrence.
Lance has scored points in Imola and Miami this season, and has out-qualified team-mate Sebastian Vettel once in the six races they have had together so far in 2022.
The Canadian suffered a horrible weekend in Baku last time out as he crashed twice in qualifying before ending up 19th, and would retire from the race having failed to progress up to the points.
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Vettel, meanwhile, qualified ninth and got his best result of the season on Sunday in P6, but the 23-year-old has at least shown that, while prone to errors, his pace is not a million miles off his team-mate.
Nonetheless, Herbert affirms that Lance’s form needs to pick up, otherwise Lawrence could have some difficult decisions to make.
“Lance has had a bit of a difficult time of late,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.
“I sometimes think there is a certain time that, if it doesn’t quite happen, Lawrence has got to go ‘son, I’ve given you a chance. It isn’t quite working out, and I’ve got to do what’s right for the team’.
“I think there will be a point that’s going to happen. I don’t exactly know when that will be, but it’s down to Lance actually to do the job that he needs to do and consistently do that job.
“At the moment, it’s a little bit scrappy.”
Were Lawrence to drop Lance, who he brought to Aston Martin under its newly formed Racing Point Guise in 2019, it would open the door to a multitude of drivers.
Fernando Alonso and Mick Schumacher have both been linked with the drive, but another is Pierre Gasly.
The AlphaTauri driver’s route back to the Red Bull team has been cut off by Sergio Perez extending his Red Bull contract until the end of 2024.
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Gasly’s Red Bull deal expires at the end of next year with his AlphaTauri contract up at the end of the current season, so Herbert suggests that the 26-year-old needs to crack on with actively pursuing other drives for 2023.
“I think he should be straight, straight there already,” added the Briton.
“I think he should already be making inquiries about exactly what they want to do and say ‘yeah, I’m ready, and I’m willing to come on board. I think that’s where drivers sometimes have to make those harsh decisions, if you call it that.
“But, from a career perspective, it’d be the right thing for him to do.”
Gasly, like Vettel, got his best result of the year so far last weekend in Baku when he finished fifth.