Lance Stroll would not be in Formula 1 if not for his billionaire father’s money.
That is the view of Alex Tagliani, a former Indycar driver who like Stroll is from Canada.
"I’m not taking away his talent, but I’m going to give you my opinion," Tagliani told Canadian broadcaster TVA Sports on the weekend of the Canadian GP.
"I don’t think so," he answered when asked if Stroll would be in F1 if he wasn’t bankrolled by Racing Point team owner Lawrence Stroll, his billionaire father.
"When you look back, money has done a lot. He comes from that family and he has the money.
"But he is there and he’s not going to say ’I’m not going to enjoy it’," Tagliani added.
Another Canadian, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, has also been critical of the scale of the financial support enjoyed by 20-year-old Stroll.
"It’s a bit hard to swallow," he told Le Monde. "Money has to have a limit, and in this case it pushes the limit."