Lance Stroll said he was frustrated at finishing ninth having led the early stages of the Turkish Grand Prix.
The Racing Point driver enjoyed a comfortable lead early in the race but came under pressure from team mate Sergio Perez and several other drivers when he experienced graining in his second stint. He was brought in for a second pit stop and a fresh set of intermediate tyres which dropped him back into the midfield, where several other drivers passed him.“That was so ridiculous,” Stroll fumed on his radio after the race. “What the hell happened? Just no pace.”
Told Perez had reached the end of the race without making a second pit stop Stroll said: “I know but we were struggling so much more than him on that tyre.”
Stroll told Sky after the race he was at a loss to understand his difficulties with the tyres.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I don’t understand. We had so much graining on the first set of intermediates, we decided to pit, we were losing seconds a lap. And I don’t know where that graining came, it just happened instantly.”
He had been 10 seconds ahead of his team mate earlier in the race. “We started the race on full wets and then I put an inter on and I was quite far up the road. It grained again, massive graining and no pace. So we have to look into it, it’s pretty terrible today.”
Stroll finished the race 72 seconds behind winner Lewis Hamilton and over 40 second behind Perez, who finished second.
“It’s frustrating when you’re in the lead by 10 seconds and all of a sudden you finish ninth,” he admitted. “I don’t understand how that happens.
“I mean I do, it’s graining, but we just need to look into why it hit me so much harder than the other car. I’m not sure why.”
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Sridhar
15th November 2020, 13:00
Difference between crass and class was very evident today. SIR Hamilton take a bow.
John H (@john-h)
15th November 2020, 13:56
I don’t really see the point of this comment. After Stroll pitted, he was 6 seconds a lap slower than Sainz when he rejoined. Something with that new set of inters just made his car pretty much undrivable. It was, a shame in my opinion because up until that point he had been driving an excellent race in very difficult conditions.
Again, I don’t see his driving as crass at all, there was clearly something going on with that new set of tyres, temperature or otherwise.
Kringle
15th November 2020, 14:31
It’s popular opinion ruining facts and figures John, you’re absolutely right in what you say.
Edvaldo
15th November 2020, 15:48
it was not only the new set as he was already slow before putting them on.
J_Olivier
15th November 2020, 13:03
But the pit stop didn’t leave him ninth, it left him… what, third, fourth? He just doesn’t have neither the pace on a race distance nor the required tyre management skills.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th November 2020, 13:08
I think it left him 4th or fifth, then he was passed by car after car when he never got them up to speed.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
15th November 2020, 13:06
Perez was catching him and would probably have passed him. Stroll would have likely ended up behind the Ferraris and maybe even Sainz anyway. Still, fifth would have been okay, doesn’t take away from the fact that Verstappen, the Ferraris and McLarens were able to fire up their inters a lot better than Stroll managed on his final stint.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th November 2020, 13:10
I am sure Stroll couldn’t have made them last to the race finish too @wsrgo.
I actually think the team should have pitted Lance a lap or so earlier, I think there was a bit of a gap he could have gone into and just could have built up the heat again.
Here the experience of guys like Hamilton and Perez in managing the tyres and waiting for the right moment shows.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 13:48
I agree his stop was late and compromised his race
someone or something
15th November 2020, 14:35
@canadianjosh
They were about to pit him a lap earlier, but Stroll questioned their call to put him on new intermediates. Only then did they tell him to stay out.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 15:29
Ya I know and they should have said box now when he questioned them.
Khairul
16th November 2020, 0:16
The whole point of asking a question is to get an answer, not capitulation.
Marcos Frasson Ruiz
15th November 2020, 13:08
Perez is one of the best drivers in the grid when it comes to tyre management. That’s why he kept his tyres alive while stroll killed his. And if you look at the podium, it’s pretty clear that experience made a lot of difference in this race. Stroll on pole and then leading a race reminds me of a cow up on a tree. No one knows exactly how it got there, but we’re all pretty sure it’s gonna fall.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
15th November 2020, 13:18
Tortoise and the hare. While max and others were bolting on tire after tire, perez and hamilton went right to the front.
Minardi (@gitanes)
15th November 2020, 18:23
Agreed, Perez has been known for years going back even to his GP2 days as having an uncanny ability to make tyres last. It’s why he was so good in 2012 also. No shame for Stroll that he couldn’t make that work- his driving style would have won the race had it kept raining.
F1oSaurus (@)
15th November 2020, 13:13
It’s called tyre management.
Aldoid
15th November 2020, 13:32
Exactly. The tires grain when they’re overheated & lateral loading causes slip & the surface of the tire to tear & roll off: Brundle aptly likens this to a pencil eraser. Some cars & drivers suffer more of course depending on setup & driving style, but managing this phenomenon is largely up to the driver.
elchinero (@elchinero)
15th November 2020, 13:51
<> “eraser” is such an apt analogy …. particularly an “art gum” eraser … just ballz up
also liked the “cow up a tree” …
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
15th November 2020, 13:16
Showed his talent nicely today.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
15th November 2020, 13:16
Cheer up kiddo. From now on, you’re alright for me. Until the second pit stop he was masterclass
Jere (@jerejj)
15th November 2020, 13:20
I feel for him for losing out on a maiden win after leading for a large portion of the race distance. The Canadian national anthem should’ve been played on the podium today.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
15th November 2020, 13:35
I’m sorry Lance, but Sergio just has mire experience at tyre management than you. If you’d kept your 1st set of intermediates alive, you wouldn’t have needed to pit. Pitting was gonna be the death knell for Racing Point and Mercedes, and do it proved for Stroll.
Still a shame that he dropped back so far after controlling the first 30 laps, but today was more endurance than sprint. He’ll learn valuable lessons today that can only benefit him.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
15th November 2020, 13:58
Once again, we on the world feed don’t get the full context of radio messages, but when he was told to box, and he questioned why, his engineer sounded very petulant with his “stay out then” response. Why no discussion?
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th November 2020, 13:37
Lance is right to feel aggrieved.
The strategy call cost him places in my opinion.
Despite that I think that the guy earned his spurs this weekend. It is easy to give excuses as to why he got pole and lead for so long but at the end of the day he took this GP by the throat and wrung pretty much all he could get out of it.
I will never be happy about the fact that he is a poor little rich kid who’s success is entirely down to his Daddies wealth, but he earned some respect as a driver this weekend I reckon.
someone or something
15th November 2020, 15:00
@nullapax
Which strategy call?
– Changing tyres? That was inevitable, as his tyres were badly worn and Pérez as well as a train of 3 or 4 other cars were about to pass him anyway.
– Not putting him on slicks? It was nowhere near dry enough for that.
– Not pitting him earlier? They almost did, but discussions about which tyre to fit cost them a lap. At the same time, pitting him significantly earlier would’ve been extremely risky as well, as everyone was half expecting slicks to come into play at a later stage, so they were at risk of losing a pit stop to everyone else.
I don’t think you can blame his team for what happened. They had to do something, as Stroll’s tyres and race lead were completely falling apart. Under these circumstances, they took the right decision, which worked for virtually everyone else. Take Norris for example, who pitted on the same lap. He was flying during that final stint. But Stroll didn’t, and his poor tyre management (for whatever reason) left him stuck between a rock and a hard place, so there was no strategic solution that could have helped him finish any higher than he did. There is no strategic cure for being too far off the pace or wearing out your tyres too quickly.
nickthegreek (@nickthegreek)
15th November 2020, 15:23
you know, his Daddy’s wealth didn’t get him pole position, I think that’s a little unfair
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 13:47
I thought he was brilliant for half the race and then that pit stop was a bit too late for him. 5 laps earlier would have been better because he came out in a RedBull Ferrari battle with cold tires and chewed them up before they got up to temp trying to stay with that trio. He needed to come out in front of Max in my opinion but who knows. Lewis was brilliant as always.
someone or something
15th November 2020, 15:04
@canadianjosh
Yeah, but that only works in hindsight. Don’t forget that this was the stage of the race where most teams were trying to stretch the stint as much as possible because the track was steadily drying up, so the next tyre change could’ve been for slicks. Now imagine what would’ve happened if Stroll pitted on lap 30, but slicks became the tyre to be on by lap 40 …
… which they didn’t, but there was absolutely no way to know that at that stage.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 15:34
You make great points with the slicks, who knew the intermediates would basically turn into slicks and still work. He surely abused his new inters in that first out lap (second inter set) before they came into operating mode and struggled to do anything after.
Aiii (@)
15th November 2020, 13:56
@jeff1s Well Geoff, you said something about Stroll answering his critics, I believe?
Retired (@jeff1s)
15th November 2020, 14:09
@aiii if you absolutely wanna be right, i give you that honour. (on another article i said « his critics answered him » too. don’t worry i’m not biased, he drove slowly after his last pit stop.
yesterday he did so, didn’t he ?
anyway, i can only be wrong when people always wanna be right
Patrick (@paeschli)
15th November 2020, 14:45
I mean, he only lost the lead once his team pitted him for the second time against his wishes @aiii
Paco
15th November 2020, 14:33
Wasnt he the one that got mad at the time when asked to pit? And then they let him stay in for another lap or two?
sebsronnie (@sebsronnie)
15th November 2020, 15:16
Lot’s of people are saying the pitstop was responsible for the outcome of his race but the truth is Perez was all over his gearbox by the time he pitted. Leaving him out at that point could have seen him drop down the order pretty fast.
Dave
15th November 2020, 15:26
Hero to zero.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 15:38
Zero? His tire management could have been better, I’m in no way a Stroll fan even know he’s a Canadian but his drive at the start in the wet was impressive. I gained respect for him in that regard but he still loses focus when he is struggling with the car, he needs to get his head in the game when he’s struggling.
Dave
15th November 2020, 16:34
OK, fair enough.
Paolo (@paulsteward40)
15th November 2020, 18:02
Disagree. The damage to his tyres was done in the first stint, resulting in him then falling back into clutches of Perez and Hamilton. No the management skills. This was demonstrated again as soon as he had fresh tyres, and basically couldn’t manage them as everyone else was doing around him. He finished where he deserved.
Paolo (@paulsteward40)
15th November 2020, 18:03
Disagree. The damage to his tyres was done in the first stint, resulting in him then falling back into clutches of Perez and Hamilton. No the management skills. This was demonstrated again as soon as he had fresh tyres, and basically couldn’t manage them as everyone else was doing around him
Josh (@canadianjosh)
15th November 2020, 18:15
His first stint he was on full wets, he managed those but couldn’t manage the inters
Jon
15th November 2020, 15:30
All I saw was when Perez boxed the right front tyre had a problem delaying Perez. Stroll wouldn’t known anything about that would he.
Edvaldo
15th November 2020, 15:41
Stroll could never make that strategy stick. He already had lost a 12 sec. lead by the time they called him in.
That, with 26 laps to go, still.
He was way too slow on the drying track and would need to fend for himself on every corner without mistakes for all those 26 laps had he not pited.
José Lopes da Silva
15th November 2020, 16:23
Early laps were a nightmare. Stroll’s 2 first laps were amazing. I thought I would loose all faith in this sport. Anyway, if Maldonado won a Race, why can’t Stroll too? But in the end talent prevailed over 10000 training hours rule.
Ron
15th November 2020, 16:27
It was Russell who thinks himself Maldonado.
José Lopes da Silva
15th November 2020, 16:45
I’m not sure what you’re talking, but I know Russell did not buy a team to race in Formula One.
Nickpkr251
15th November 2020, 17:29
Stroll chew his tires off on first stint making too big of a gap and could never switch them back on after that, it sums up as poor tire management.
RP strategy is always sketchy. Even 1 stop race was tuff and only best drivers pull that off, I think racing point strategy for Stroll was not ideal, they had 20 second gap to pit him early at one point, others that change early catch up and end up ahead in the end. RP wait too long for two pit stop strategy, assuming a slick change and arguing with Stroll, which on the other hand help PER not to get screwed this time.
However race conditions today really let drivers make a difference.
Pablo Diablo
15th November 2020, 20:56
“It’s frustrating when you’re in the lead by 10 seconds and all of a sudden you finish ninth,” he admitted. “I don’t understand how that happens.
“I mean I do, it’s graining, but we just need to look into why it hit me so much harder than the other car. I’m not sure why.”
It’s called “Driving Skill” daddy’s boy.
Rackng dave
15th November 2020, 22:39
I think many of the comments are disingenuous to Stroll – he shone on Saturday. The fact he burned up inters was a lack of experience on that rubber – not once did I see him cool his tyres. They also suit Perez’s driving.
But what a drive by Hamilton – others had their chances but Hamilton just showed why his is 7 time WC!! He might have the best car and team and in a race anyone could have won HE won and lapped his constantly faltering team mate 😀
Estban
15th November 2020, 23:04
I don’t get you people, why attacking him on the fact he’s a pay driver ?
A lot of pilots have been like him through F1 history. Like… Senna of course. Do you thing Senna was bad and deserved to be called daddy’s boy too ?
Ridiculous.
Mooa42
16th November 2020, 0:51
Kudos to Stroll, showed some great skill.
My guess is his car was setup more for the wet than Perez and once it started to dry, game over. Happened to a few others when they went to their second set of inters too.
Crazy race, maybe Burnie’s idea of introducing sprinklers to dry races to spice up the action was a good one! I feel like I watched 3 grand prixs, and I’m sure the drivers felt like they drove 3, especially bottas.