Lance Stroll believes he could have taken a points finish for Racing Point if they hadn’t been outmanouevred on strategy by Toro Rosso.
Alexander Albon got ahead of Stroll by pitting one lap before the Racing Point driver, and went on to take tenth place.“Today could have been better,” said Stroll. “We were in front of Albon before the first stop and then he undercut us by one lap and finished in the points, so it’s a bit of a shame.”
Stroll said the team had the opportunity to bring him in earlier. “We could have been more proactive because we didn’t have anyone immediately in front of us. I think it was Sergio [Perez] or Raikkonen ahead at the time, about five seconds up the road, so we weren’t really fighting anyone in front and we had Albon three seconds behind.
“It was just a classic undercut. It’s disappointing, because once that happened we were in his dirty air and it was tough to overtake.”
Racing Point converted Stroll onto a two-stop strategy, but he was only able to make up one of the two places that cost him.
“We tried an extra stop at the end and got past Magnussen to finish P12, but it could have been more. Our race pace was not bad but we just need to look at the strategy, because I think we may have been able to pick up a point today.”
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Steve
14th April 2019, 23:32
Maybe he should cry to daddy that seems to work
ColdFly (@)
15th April 2019, 18:24
Unfortunatelly there are still many comments like this regarding Stroll.
We all know he’s not a strong qualifier, but his race was decent enough not to deserve these comments.
And Stroll’s comments in this article are spot on, and pretty mature.
The only thing I’d like to add. It is extremely impressive by Albon that he kept his Softs alive during 19 laps with full fuel load and staying within 1-2 seconds of Stroll.
edvaldo
15th April 2019, 1:44
The guy isnt fast enought to get into Q2 for most of the time and is unhappy with the strategy?
his points in Australia came from a lucky situation. Things won’t turn out that much better than they were at Williams if he is so slow on saturdays.
Todfod (@todfod)
15th April 2019, 10:58
Lance was very critical of Williams strategy as well when he was racing. Apparently, no one’s told him that strategists don’t have a crystal ball.
Maybe a half decent qualifying peformance once in a while would make him less reliant on strategy…. There’s only a certain degree that strategy can help a slow driver.. Someone needs to give him that reality check.
Mr G
15th April 2019, 1:52
But qualifying higher wouldn’t help eh Lance? ;)
Todfod (@todfod)
15th April 2019, 5:53
If Lance wants points.. he should try not to be the slowest driver on the grid during qualifying.
Iván (@yivi)
15th April 2019, 6:54
Oh boy. I hope Lance gets over his unhappiness about Racing Point strategy soon. Otherwise, his father will have to buy him yet another F1 team. He is not made of teams, you know?
nase
15th April 2019, 7:57
He has a point (figuratively speaking, scnr).
However, one aspect of his recap puzzled me:
5 seconds behind Pérez? Doesn’t sound that bad, does it? Sadly for him, that was in his dreams. According to the lap chart, he was already 15 seconds adrift of his team mate at that stage.
Melchior (@)
15th April 2019, 8:27
Woops.Look out.A team strategist might get fired ;)
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
15th April 2019, 9:36
@melchior Or if he thinks he can do a better job perhaps they should swap roles?!
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
15th April 2019, 13:41
True, the strategist could probably drive faster than Stroll!
Stephen Higgins
15th April 2019, 9:28
There races in and already whinging ..
Save us all the bother Lance and ask daddy to sort you out an IndyCar ride next year.
Didi
15th April 2019, 10:10
Stroll who?
Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
15th April 2019, 13:07
It would help if he didn’t qualify about 5 places behind his teammate constantly.
Sammy
15th April 2019, 17:40
Lance Stroll could be the only driver who was actually flattered by driving a recent Williams. If you’re guaranteed the back row before you start then the worst that can happen is that you qualify one place behind your teammate.
David C
15th April 2019, 19:11
If the car ahead is 5 seconds up the road, isn’t it better to stay out and make use of the clear air?