How Stroll missed out on breaking Villeneuve F1 record

Lance Stroll missed out on eclipsing Jacques Villeneuve for a new all-time F1 record in the São Paulo Grand Prix after spinning on the formation lap. 

Hours after he had crashed in the wet qualifying session, Stroll suffered rear locking on the brakes at Turn 4 and spun off.

After clipping a barrier with the front wing of his Aston Martin, the Canadian then drove straight into a gravel trap, beaching his car and posting the third non-start from his 166 entries. 

Had he taken the start as planned for the 164th time, Stroll would have surpassed 1997 champion Villeneuve for most starts by a Canadian driver in F1 history. Instead, he remains tied on 163. 

The next most experienced Canadian is Villeneuve’s father Gilles, who started 67 times between 1977 and his death at Zolder in qualifying for the 1982 Dutch GP. 

Stroll’s other two DNS came at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix where he was entered but withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test, and at the 2023 Singapore GP after a major accident in qualifying.