People want to bag on him because of his dad's money, and that may be a valid justification. Maybe he got chances no one else would. But he worked his way up the ranks from carting to f2 iirc. And like you said, he's podium'd a few times and isn't doing poorly. It's not even close to mazaspin.

He's playing the hand he was dealt. It's shitty to flat dismiss him as a decent f1 driver because his dad's rich--which is always the undercurrent of most criticisms of him.

And let's be fair, there are lots of reasons drivers are driving in f1 outside of pure driving ability. Hulkenberg being back because a sponsor wanted a German driver, Perez had ties to a Mexican billionaire (and access to that market), Danny ric because he's popular and funny, etc. But at the end of the day, you have to perform and Stroll performs better than half the field.