Lance Stroll is a Formula 1 record holder after qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but it is safe to say he has made unwanted history.

That is because the Aston Martin driver has now suffered the most Q1 exits of all-time, though he stressed this is “car dependent”, and something that the “McLaren drivers” would suffer if they were in a Sauber for a decade instead.

Lance Stroll sets unwanted F1 record: Luck of the car to blame?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Formula 1 introduced its current Q1, Q2 and Q3 qualifying format back in 2006, one which has remained largely ever present since, minus a brief tweak in 2016 which saw a new system of in-session driver eliminations quickly dropped.

And at the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lance Stroll – who joined the F1 grid in 2017 – suffered his 75th Q1 elimination, surpassing Kevin Magnussen as the driver to have suffered the most Q1 exits.

Stroll was already aware of this record ahead of it being brought up to him by the media, including PlanetF1.com after the session, as he had heard it announced on the speaker.

However, the former Williams, Racing Point and current Aston Martin driver, said that the machinery driven leads to such a record.

“Yeah, Q1, I heard it on the speaker,” he said of that new F1 record.

“Put the McLaren drivers in the Sauber for 10 years and they will have the most Q1 exits. It’s car-dependent.”

He added: “When you have fast cars, you save tyres, and you go through to Q3,”

“When you have slow cars you throw a million sets in Q1 and most of the time you go out if that’s the kind of pace you have.”

Key analysis from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

👉 Lewis Hamilton telemetry data exposes critical Ferrari issues in Saudi Arabia

👉 What the data reveals about Lando Norris’ costly Saudi Arabian GP qualifying crash

Stroll qualified P16 in Saudi Arabia – the fastest of the drivers eliminated in Q1 – and the gap to making that Q2 cut was less than a tenth.

The Canadian felt that was his strongest showing of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race weekend so far, but claimed the fundamental pace was lacking in Aston Martin’s AMR25.

“It’s tight for sure, it’s always tight,” he acknowledged.

“We didn’t really have the pace all weekend to go through from Q1. It was always like we were 18th, 19th all weekend, and now we’re 16th.

“I think it was actually our most competitive session of the weekend, but we just need some more pace.”

Stroll has scored all 10 of Aston Martin’s points so far in F1 2025.

Read next: Stroll’s blunt Aston Martin AMR25 verdict as Adrian Newey role clarified