F3 '1000 times more fun' than F1 - Stroll may be 2026 rules' fiercest critic

Formula 1's current cars are "like 1000 times" worse to drive than Formula 3 machinery, according to Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll - who spent F1's enforced April break driving other machinery.

Stroll notably took part in GT World Challenge's 6 Hours of Paul Ricard in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 - but also "tested some F3 cars", a fairly conventional way for F1 drivers to keep up race fitness.

"And it's like 1000 times more fun and better to drive, because you have your right foot, you give what you want and you get what you want," was Stroll's description.

"Even the weight of the car, you know? Something, 550, 650 kilos, it's just a lot nicer than 750-800+ kilos. Things like that."

It came amid a barrage of fairly scathing answers about F1's 2026 rules package, combined with a lack of faith that the rule changes implemented in the break will make a significant difference.

"Hopefully it's better, with all the part-throttle and all this stuff. It's just destroying the racing, the qualifying laps. Hopefully it's a bit more normal to drive, we don't think so much about it, all the management and lift-and-coast, and how much thought we put into all that stuff. But I think we're still far away from proper F1 cars. Pushing flat out, without thinking about batteries.

"I think we're miles off of where we should be. We had time off in the break, I was, like, randomly watching old races and stuff - I even had the Monaco Historics on the TV and I heard some cars, some Ferrari cars from early 2000s, and how good they sounded, how small and nimble, and there were some onboards I saw from early or even mid 2000s, the V8 era, V10 era, and then what it looks versus now, it came up on my phone and stuff, and I was watching it - and you hear what it's like now, the character of the cars and how much more intense it looked, how much more exciting it looked back then compared to now. It's sad but hopefully we're heading back in that direction.

"I hear rumours about it. I mean, for the next regs. But now we're going to have to live with these ones for the next three-four years."

While Max Verstappen's angst at the new rules has been well-publicised and not particularly surprising, Stroll is a less obvious source of such sharp criticism - especially given several other drivers were keen to emphasise the willingness of the FIA to listen to driver feedback and a "wait-and-see" approach to whether the recent rule changes do enough.

Stroll has largely shied away in his F1 career from commenting in much detail or wading into controversial topics - though rather than a deliberate tactic this has usually appeared to be just a general lack of interest in the media side of F1.

But when he's felt particularly strongly about things Stroll could be quite blunt - as was evidenced in his comments about Spa-Francorchamps two years ago following the loss of Formula Regional driver Dilano van 't Hoff, and as became clear again today.

"We saw it coming. Everyone said, for the last year and a half or however long it's been, adding these batteries, taking off downforce from the cars to support the batteries, and all this stuff, is not looking good. And now we got what we expected to have. It's probably more frustrating for Aston Martin than for Mercedes right now! But that's F1. It is what it is. Hopefully it gets better."

Asked about driver disdain clashing with F1's positive messaging about the 2026 rules - as underlined by CEO Stefano Domenicali's recent interview with The Race - Stroll said: "Because F1's a business and they want to protect their business and make it look good, and we're drivers and we know what it feels like to drive good cars! So there's two different perspectives on it.

"People are watching the sport no matter what, and watching the Netflix, turning on F1 - so F1 is happy. But the drivers, the fans, the people that really know about racing, know what it was before, the drivers that know what it's like to drive really good, proper cars. There's no hiding from the fact that right now it's not as good as it can be. It's far from as good as it can be."

This won't shorten Stroll's career

Though Stroll's place at Aston Martin - a team and brand headed by his father Lawrence - has never appeared to be under much threat year-on-year, speculation often surrounds his willingness to continue in the championship.

At a time he feels F1 cars are "not so fun to drive", Stroll's appearance in the Paul Ricard endurance race, in a team also featuring ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi and Aston Martin junior Mari Boya, was an eyebrow-raiser. But Stroll has made it clear it's a one-off for now that was simply enabled by the unplanned calendar gap.

"It was just about having fun with friends. I have a GT3 Aston for track days, in Japan we were talking about what we were going to do during the time off. So, I got together with some friends and kind of last-minute put a car together and went racing."

And though the regulations aren't to his liking, and seemingly won't be for the foreseeable future, and the Aston Martin-Honda project is off to a horrible start, Stroll says he is not entertaining an F1 exit in the least.

"I still have a lot of belief in this project and I still think the project is far from our potential. Adrian [Newey] joined the team, we have the new factory, the new windtunnel, stuff that everyone knows - and I believe that this team has a lot of potential.

"If in two-three years' time I'm sitting on the sofa, I'm watching two green cars at the front of the field and I'm not part of it, it will bother me. Yeah, I want to be a part of that. And hopefully... as and once that happens, the cars become better and more fun to drive. 

"Which all the drivers would like. I mean, it's not just me. I think some guys can say it, some guys cannot say it because of contracts and stuff."