His 2016 season is make belief and I will tell you the reason why. For me the only way a F3 driver can jump straight to F1 is he does something extraordinary in his rookie season. Like taking the most wins (Verstappen in 2014, 10 wins against opposition that was from a much higher caliber then Stroll faced in 2016 and doing it without the backing of a topteam like Prema).
1. The 2016 field wasn't as stacked as 2014 and 2015. Look who entered the championship and look at their credentials the caliber of drivers was much higher in those year.
2. If you look at 2015 Stroll (Prema) had 1 win and was 135 point of 4th place driver and highest rookie LeClerc (Van Amerfoorst). LeClerc and Stroll both were Ferrari Acadamy Drivers. Getting a beating like meant that LeClerc was 2nd in line behind Marciello at the time. His dad didn't like that and bought a piece of Williams racing to accommodate Lance.
3. In 2016 it became clear that GP3 was where the highly rated drivers would compete, if Stroll was that good he would have stepped up like Ocon did and mike the side step to GP3. If you wan't to be a legit F1 driver you should compete in series where the F1 bosses can see your talent. But daddy stroll deciced against that move because he would have to compete in a Prema against the likes off LeClerc, DeVries, Albon etc. He took the easy route to a certain championship and remained in F3 and the only opposition before the seasons started was Gunther. The rest of the field where rookies or just average drivers. As a second year driver who off course is talented and with the best team and without really opposition, he won the title surprise surprise....
For me the only drivers that should be considered for a F1 drive in 2017 are Charles Leclerc, Antonio Giovinazzi and Piere Gasly. Lance Stroll should drive GP2 for Prema to see if he is really the talent that everyone gives him credit for. Stroll is in my top5 of best junior drivers.
1. Giovinazzi
2. LeClerc
3. Gasly
4. Deletraz
5. Stroll
I rate him but I will put a asterisk behind his name because I want him to prove himself against better opposition. So for Williams and journo's to say he is as talented as the likes of Verstappen and Ocon is not right. Ocon won as a rookie in F3 and GP3 thats impressive also against much tougher opposition. Verstappen had the most wins as a 16 year old rookie driving with a mediocre team. Those are performances that stand out. What Stroll did finishing 4th 135 points behind fellow rookie Leclerc is not a stellar performance. Winning the 2016 F3 title in a pretty much talent drained year is not stellar to me, its a good performance not stellar. In my eyes you need to preform stellar in GP3 or F3 to make the jump into F1.
Irvine:"If you don't have a good car you can't win it, unless you are Michael or Senna. Lots of guys won in Adrian Newey's cars, big deal. Adrian is the real genius out there, there is Senna, there is Michael and there is Newey.They were the three great talents."