Lance Strulovitch (born 29 October 1998 in Montreal), who races under the name Lance Stroll, is the son of Canadian billionaire businessman Lawrence Stroll. He began competitive karting at age ten and joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2010. After winning the Italian F4 Championship with Prema in 2014 and the Toyota Racing Series in early 2015, Stroll graduated to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, the most prestigious Formula Three series in the world at the time, also with Prema Powerteam.
In his first year of Formula 3 European competition, Stroll raced against a field that included future Formula One drivers Antonio Giovinazzi, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Alexander Albon. He secured one race victory, at the Hockenheimring, and accumulated six podium finishes across the 33-race season, finishing fifth in the overall championship standings. Though not a title contender in 2015, the year gave him a thorough education in a demanding multi-nationality field on circuits across Europe.
Stroll returned to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship for 2016 with Prema Powerteam, his third consecutive season with the Italian outfit. His father Lawrence hired Ferrari chief track engineer Luca Baldisserri as his race engineer for the campaign, a preparation measure that drew attention before the season began.
The season opened with a win at Circuit Paul Ricard and Stroll did not let up. He went on to claim fourteen race victories in total — including five consecutive victories in the final five races of the season. He clinched the championship title with four rounds still to run and ended the year a record 187 points clear of his nearest rival, Maximilian Günther. The winning margin and the tally of victories were both records for the series.
The dominance of the campaign attracted scrutiny. George Russell, among others, publicly questioned whether team orders directed to Stroll's Prema teammates had artificially aided his margin. At Circuit Paul Ricard, Russell specifically cited an incident in which Nick Cassidy slowed to allow Stroll to inherit the race lead, stating that "it's not a fair fight." Prema and Stroll's camp did not accept these characterisations, and the FIA Formula 3 authorities took no formal action against the team during the season.
The 2016 European Formula 3 title, combined with a fifth-place finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona that year driving a Ford EcoBoost Prototype for Chip Ganassi Racing, formed the basis of Stroll's case for a Formula One seat. Williams confirmed him for the 2017 season alongside Felipe Massa. He became the first Canadian Formula One driver since Jacques Villeneuve, and at 18 was one of the youngest drivers to make a Formula One debut in the modern era. His father Lawrence was reported to have paid approximately $80 million to Williams prior to the announcement.
At Azerbaijan in 2017, Stroll finished third, becoming the youngest rookie and second-youngest driver overall to achieve a podium finish in Formula One.
Stroll's Formula 3 campaign remains a reference point in discussions about the relationship between financial resources and junior formula success. The scale of preparation, the choice of team, and the professional infrastructure around his programme were extraordinary for a junior category, and the controversy about team orders has never been fully resolved in public record. What is unambiguous is the statistical record: fourteen wins, a championship sealed with four rounds to spare, and a winning margin that has not been surpassed in the series' history. Whether measured by controversy or by achievement, the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship season is inseparable from Lance Stroll's name.