Ahead of the season‑closing Mexican Grand Prix, a wave of social‑media posts is urging fans to vote Lance Stroll as Driver of the Day, regardless of his on‑track performance.
Key points
- Fans are using social media to organize a mass vote for Lance Stroll as Driver of the Day at the Mexican Grand Prix.
- Previous coordinated attempts to sway the poll for other drivers (Mazepin in 2021, Latifi in 2022) were unsuccessful.
- Stroll has only won the Driver of the Day award once, in 2017, making the current campaign a clear example of a targeted voting effort.
The Formula 1 Driver of the Day award lets fans worldwide select the driver they think performed best in a race via the official F1 website. The tally is publicly recorded, and recent winners have included Charles Leclerc after the United States Grand Prix.
At the Mexican Grand Prix, a group of users on Instagram and TikTok are encouraging each other to vote for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, even if he finishes several laps down. Posts read, “You’re voting Stroll for Mexico Driver of the Day, right? The rest of us are,” and promise to keep the campaign alive for subsequent races if the initial vote fails.
What is the Driver of the Day vote?
The effort mirrors two earlier attempts to turn the poll into a mockery: a 2021 push for Nikita Mazepin at the Portuguese Grand Prix and a 2022 drive for Nicolas Latifi at the Canadian Grand Prix. Both campaigns fell short, never coming close to winning the award.
Stroll’s record in the Driver of the Day tally is modest. He won the accolade once, after his podium finish at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and has only placed in the top five twice in the nine years since. The current campaign therefore targets a driver who is statistically unlikely to win the vote on merit alone.
Fans’ coordinated campaign for Stroll
Critics argue that such coordinated voting undermines the spirit of the award, turning a fan‑driven celebration of performance into a platform for trolling. They note that while fans will still back their favourite drivers, a mass‑vote campaign can distort the result and embarrass the targeted driver.
Reader questions
What is the Formula 1 Driver of the Day award?
It is a fan‑voted accolade that lets viewers select the driver they believe had the best race, with votes cast on the official F1 website and results recorded for each Grand Prix.
Have fans successfully manipulated the Driver of the Day vote before?
No. Similar campaigns for Nikita Mazepin at the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix and Nicolas Latifi at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix failed to win the award.
Why is Lance Stroll being targeted for this vote?
Stroll has a limited history of winning the Driver of the Day award—only once in 2017—so fans see him as an unlikely winner and a convenient focus for a coordinated voting effort.
Source: gpfans.com