Lance Stroll said he had “no answers” for why he was unable to progress beyond the first round in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
He missed the cut to reach Q2 by just six hundredths of a second. However he was 0.77 seconds than his team mate Fernando Alonso, who did not need to do a second run in Q1, allowing him to save a fresh set of soft tyres for later in the session.Stroll said there was no obvious reason why he hadn’t been able to match his team mate’s pace.
“Everything felt fine,” he told the official F1 channel. “Just very slow today. No pace in the car and no pace in myself in my car.
“The car looks quick and Fernando was quick, so I don’t know. I don’t have more answers.”
“We have to look at the data, see if tyres, everything was working properly in the right window,” he added. “It’s just one of those days, I don’t know, I don’t have answers yet, we have to look at everything.”
Alonso qualified fifth, 11 places ahead of his team mate, and doesn’t believe the car was capable of more.
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“We were competitive in Q1, Q2 and then Q3 we had two sets [of soft tyres] today, different to other occasions. I think P5 is absolutely the maximum today, there is not much left on the car.
“Both laps in Q3 were quite risky but rewarding as well, because Suzuka is always fun to drive with low fuel and new tyres.
“I’m happy for the team – six months ago we were here, 1.5 seconds from pole position, we are four tenths now so definitely we are going into the right direction, but, we still need more steps.”
Aston Martin brought an upgrade for their car this weekend which Stroll has run since the first practice session. Alonso, who continued to use the old specification until final practice, says it is hard to say how much of a difference the new parts have made.
“We still need to weigh the data. That’s the best comparison possible when you run two cars in two different days and you get the data.
“I didn’t speak with the team yet but I think it’s a good step looking at the results in qualifying. But it is so tight up there, with one or two tenths you can change the whole grid position. We always want more, even if you improve the car you are just looking forward to the next one.”
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
- “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
- Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
- Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
- Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
- Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year
Jere (@jerejj)
6th April 2024, 10:40
No pace in the car or no pace between the steering wheel & the seat?
Jere (@jerejj)
6th April 2024, 10:43
Definitely the latter
Simon
6th April 2024, 17:45
So you’re asking (and then answering) your own question now?
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
6th April 2024, 11:14
Keeps doing everything in his power to do his talking on the track and proving his haters right.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th April 2024, 20:28
Lance is still doing his talking on the track, I presume? A bit of a silent guy there.
Todfod (@todfod)
7th April 2024, 4:18
Oh his driving is definitely talking… talking about how he’s not close to good enough to be in that seat.
Nick T.
6th April 2024, 21:13
“Pay Sebastian whatever it costs to make me look good, dad!”
“Not happening.”
“But daaaadddd!”
Nick T.
6th April 2024, 21:15
to come back and make me look good again*
Damn I wish there was an edit button.
Dex
6th April 2024, 11:17
Another pleasant stroll around the track.
Edvaldo
6th April 2024, 11:59
My man is doing his talk on the track as promised.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
6th April 2024, 12:56
I didn’t see his last lap, but I noticed he didn’t improve on his first, which was decent (something like 8th or 9th), whilst everyone was improving.
Either he messed up (in which case, he’d know), or the car had some issue (in which case the team would know) or he was just slow on that run for no specific reason.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
6th April 2024, 13:20
There was no second run. They gambled that his initial lap was good enough. Should have done what Ferrari did with Leclerc and sacrifice another set of softs. You have to be in it to win it.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
6th April 2024, 13:32
… If that’s indeed the case (and I’m not sure it is since I think I saw a checkered flag next to his name at the end the session), this is absolutely ludicrous.
MichaelN
6th April 2024, 14:42
Alonso did three laps in Q1, Stroll did six. So, without having seen qualifying, it seems it was Alonso who did just one timed lap, and Stroll did two but wasn’t quick enough to go through.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
6th April 2024, 14:10
Fernando is a genuinely talented racing driver.
You are a spoilt rich kid playing at being a racing driver.
That is the obvious reason …. unless you have been raised to think that only money matters.
José Lopes da Silva
6th April 2024, 14:15
More than 30 years after Nigel Mansell’s monkey comment, the human factor still proves decisive.
az
6th April 2024, 15:29
Two similar drivers would make us think AM’s car is bad this year, and also think that these two drivers are performing reasonably well with the car they were given. I wonder how many times in the past we might be mislead in this way.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th April 2024, 22:00
Many, surely very recently, when we had vettel and stroll at aston.
Maciek (@maciek)
6th April 2024, 17:52
Lance keeps showing his critics what he’s made of
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th April 2024, 19:17
there have been just 3 races this season. one of which was very poor from stroll. but in the others on race day, he was very solid. he also looked pretty close to alonso at the end of last season too. today was also bad but as well as showing to be poor this season, he’s also been pretty good, and you can say the same for many other drivers too.
Dex
6th April 2024, 20:42
It’s been a few years of Stroll in F1 though. I hope that by the age of 50 he will show first signs of improvement. I see no reason to doubt it. He’s only had a several bad seasons, from first to last, it’s unfair to judge him based on such a small sample. Tomorrow… tomorrow he will talk on the track. This is just a warm up.