Painful qualifying ended with a penalty, a start at the back of the grid and bad luck at the start of the race did not bode well for Lance Stroll. Under the circumstances, that ninth place finish, along with two ranking points, is about the best news imaginable.
“It’s better than nothing”, launched the Quebecer at the end of the afternoon, before recalling that each point is precious for the constructors’ championship.
“We made the best of our bad luck,” he said.
At 12e turn, a puncture on a tire of George Russell (Mercedes) required the exit of the safety vehicle. Several pilots took the opportunity to go through the pits. But Stroll had just been there. His stop therefore made him lose more time than his opponents, which cost him two ranks.
He then orchestrated his comeback, in particular thanks to a team strategy that paid off. He also managed a late overtake, on the very last lap, which allowed him to overtake Valteri Bottas (Alpha Romeo) to snatch one more point.
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Lance Stroll
He had been working on this maneuver for a long time, in a four-way fight with Bottas, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The latter, however, got out of the equation by receiving a five-second penalty.
“My tires were gone after 55 laps and I was putting pressure on him, it wasn’t easy to pass him,” said Stroll. But [Bottas] made a small mistake in the last chicane, he blocked me a bit and I had a better exit than him. »
“I felt good in the car, we had a good speed, he said again. But it was still a difficult weekend. I’m already focusing on Austria [dans deux semaines], can’t wait to drive there. »
The Montrealer also returned to the penalty imposed on him on Saturday after blocking Esteban Ocon, which made him drop three places on the starting grid. He invoked the “so difficult” conditions, namely sometimes torrential rain, as well as a bad choice of tires. “It’s always difficult to judge,” he said. But I blocked it. In the end, that’s how it is. »
With 37 points, Lance Stroll now sits eighth in the drivers’ championship, 80 points behind Fernando Alonso, his teammate at Aston Martin.