Aston Martin’s season has been among the most disappointing, but if anyone is living it with particular harshness, it is Lance Stroll. Fernando Alonso’s teammate has yet to score in 2026, and there’s something even worse: he is on the verge of equaling one of the most notorious records in the entire history of Formula 1.
Lance Stroll has already retired from thirteen of the 20 races that have been held in 2026. If he withdraws from one more, he will match the record for the most retirements in a single season, held by Andrea De Cesaris for 39 years. With three races still ahead and given the poor reliability of that Honda engine, he could even surpass it.
Stroll, on the verge of being the driver with the most DNFs in a season
In 1987 the Italian Andrea De Cesaris set one of those records that seemed unbeatable. The then Brabham-BMW driver retired from fourteen of the 16 races that season. The most amazing thing is that in the other two he didn’t cross the finish line either, but retired so late that he counted as classified.
Some count as if De Cesaris therefore didn’t finish any race in 1987, but technically that’s not the case. Official statistics only tally fourteen retirements. In fact, although at Spa he didn’t reach the finish line, he finished third and stood on the podium because only two drivers completed all laps, and he retired late enough to count. Another era.
That is why, because it was another era, it seemed an unbeatable record. But now Lance Stroll is determined to beat it. Fernando Alonso’s teammate has already retired from thirteen races in 2026, which leaves him one behind the mark with three Grands Prix still to go—the ones in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The calendar is longer, but in theory reliability could be as well.
And of Stroll’s thirteen retirements, eleven have been due to breakdowns and technical problems. Only twice did the driver himself fail: in Monaco, where he crashed into the wall, and in Zandvoort, where he withdrew due to damage to his car after an incident in the early laps. The rest is a matter of the car’s reliability.
Indeed, there are those who would say that Stroll has already equaled the record, because in the opening race, the Australian Grand Prix, he couldn’t even take to the track due to mechanical problems. Statistically, since he never even started the race, it doesn’t count as a retirement, but it’s really another damp squib of a Grand Prix for Stroll.
The bad luck is really hitting him. With the same machinery, his teammate, Alonso, has seven DNFs in 2026. A lot, yes, but almost half of Stroll’s total. The worst part is that Stroll has yet to score a point, and at this stage it already seems unlikely he will. At least De Cesaris washed away his 1987 sorrows with a podium.
Images | Aston Martin, Formula 1
