Lance Stroll says he doesn’t understand his penalty for colliding with Daniel Ricciardo during a Safety Car period, claiming it was instigated by another driver.
The stewards ruled the Aston Martin driver was “predominantly” to blame for the collision and gave him a 10-second time penalty plus two penalty points on his licence.But Stroll said he was unable to avoid the RB driver ahead of him due to the “concertina effect” created as the cars slowed for the hairpin.
“Someone braked and in front and then I think everyone kind of braked and the car in front of me just stopped right in front of me,” he told the official F1 channel. “I had nowhere to go. It was just one of those really weird racing incidents.”
Stroll said he didn’t understand why he was singled out as he believes another driver caused the queue to slow down.
“I don’t understand it, it was really just one of those concertina effect racing incidents,” he said. “I guess because I was the one that hit the guy in front of me, I got the front of me. But someone caused that in front of him, someone hit the brakes. It was a weird one.”
However Ricciardo remained firm in his view that Stroll was to blame.
“The truth is at restarts we can’t predict what the leader is going to do so you have to be on edge and as aware as possible,” he told Viaplay. “Maybe he goes in turn 14, maybe he goes in turn 15, but you can’t just assume that it’s going to restart at turn 14 or whatever.
“So I could see everyone started to brake for 14 for the hairpin, it was starting to bunch up, so I got on the brakes. And then as I started slowing more and closing in on Oscar [Piastri], I felt Lance underneath me, basically.
“I was just told now that apparently he was blaming me for it and if that’s true – I was starting to calm down, but that really pisses me off because I watched his onboard and as soon as we start to brake he starts looking at the corner, and then as he starts getting closer, you can see he’s not even focussed on me and on a restart you have to focus on the car in front of you. That’s the only car. You can’t overtake them so there’s no point looking three cars ahead anyway.”
The stewards have handed Stroll two penalty points for the collision, bringing his superlicence points over the last 12 months to seven – five away from a potential one-race suspension.
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st April 2024, 12:24
The tragic tale of the man born without the capability to learn continues.
What a waste of a car. I was talking to a friend the other day, imagine a Bottas in that seat. What a combo! Alonso, Bottas, that very capable Aston. They are never going to improve as much as they should with that guy in the second car…
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
21st April 2024, 12:36
Even if there was an unexpected braking moment, the gap between Stroll and Ricciardo was such that there was more than plenty of time to react. So the excuse fails to hold up.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st April 2024, 14:37
the onboard camera shows he was simply looking away… there was no way he’d have reacted in time to whatever happened: Ricc slowing down or an ovni landing ahead…
Retep
21st April 2024, 12:39
Considering the incidents Stroll has had over the years, it seems his situational awareness is quite poor.
BMW P85 V10
21st April 2024, 16:34
And if being dealt with the proper penaltie pionts he would at least be watching a race as a spectator a couple of times.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st April 2024, 12:41
No, totally on him, given the gap he had to Ricciardo, which was decent enough to react in time at crawling speeds.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
21st April 2024, 12:49
The only person you could possibly blame Lance is your Father for financing your fantasy.
I (like many others on here) am very grateful to Lawrence Stroll for his commitment to F1, but it is a crying shame that this sport has to accept you as the price for that commitment.
Mayrton
21st April 2024, 15:25
+1
Jonathan Parkin
21st April 2024, 12:50
I don’t get this requirement for ‘bunching’ up the field when the Safety Car goes in. I think I read somewhere this is so the field doesn’t ‘overtake’ when it returns to the pit lane.
Except this to me is nonsense. When the Safety Car leaves the track, it’s not part of the race anymore and the cars should be able to proceed normally over the line to start the next lap
MichaelN
21st April 2024, 12:54
It’s a relic, like the entire safety car concept.
The SC could just pull off track at the straight and then Verstappen can continue on at said pace and then resume racing speeds by powering out of the hairpin like normal.
S
21st April 2024, 13:12
Really? You don’t think it might have something to do with not allowing the competitors towards the front to unfairly hold back those lower in the pack?
The idea is to have the ‘race’ restart under the most ‘fair’ and competitive conditions possible.
There are quite a few weird and crazy things in F1, but this is not one of them.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st April 2024, 14:40
Bunching up the field isn’t a requisite or an obligation. The leader sets the pace, the cars behind can position themselves as they want, so long as they don’t go further than 10 car lenghts. But no one wants to leave a gap and get caught napping, that’s why they bunch up.
It’s the nature of racing. They try to gain as much as they can. There’s little the rulemakers can do about it, it’s up to the drivers to look ahead and react accordingly.
claudioff (@claudioff)
21st April 2024, 13:34
Stroll on the radio: This id… just slammed on the breaks.
Isn’t that what a driver must do in a race? What Stroll will complain next? The guy in front is accelerating on the straights? Does he not understand how racing works?
Neil (@neilosjames)
21st April 2024, 13:42
Only seen one replay from in his car, but it looked like he had time to react but (I assume) was distracted by something and didn’t notice the car ahead slowing. Bit like one of those low-speed bumps you see on the road when cars are queuing for traffic lights and one of the drivers isn’t paying attention.
Imre (@f1mre)
21st April 2024, 13:56
Yes. It would be a non-story had he accepted blame for the accident. I
S
21st April 2024, 14:49
It would be a non-story had it been anyone else.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st April 2024, 14:05
Well, if anyone but Stroll would be to blame, it would have to be Alonso for messing up his braking there and causing everyone behind to have to try and not crash into him? I don’t really think that makes sense though.
Imre (@f1mre)
21st April 2024, 14:31
Ferrari to blame for providing Sauber car parts that broke down causing the SC.
Dex
21st April 2024, 14:37
Daddy’s boy, why did you call someone an idiot for slamming on the brakes (which he didn’t even do) instead of slamming into another car, like you opted to do?
There should be no place in F1 for spoild kids without any spacial awareness and with attention deficit disorder.
Dex
21st April 2024, 15:06
Daddy’s boy, why did you call someone a beep for slamming on the brakes (which he didn’t even do) instead of slamming into another car, like you opted to do?
There should be no place in F1 for spoiled kids without any spacial awareness and with short attention span. Unlike some drivers in front, he had plenty of space between himself and Ricciardo, and he didn’t even try to stop the car… I mean, if he tried and didn’t make it, that wouldn’t be so much on him. But his head was somewhere else, probably dreaming about gaining a few positions after that corner.
And even that would be fine if he didn’t rush to insult a more experienced driver, and then even making fun about his 10 seconds penalty.
It’s too bad that independent journalists can rarely approach the drivers, and he’ll get away with standard questions from the same old people feigning sympathy and avoiding questions like: “Why can’t you beat any teammate, or at least be close? Why do you think you deserve to stay in the team, in such a competitive sport, when many drivers can’t even get a chance to try? Did you watch the replay, and do you still think that Daniel is an…?”
Mayrton
22nd April 2024, 6:57
I agree especially on the media part. It is a bubble and therefore a useless farce. It is commentary at most, but hardly any journalism.
AlanD
21st April 2024, 15:10
In some ways this reflects real life. We all know people who have accidents and it was never their fault, according to them, but if you have to dig into your pocket to cover the cost of the accident, you pretty soon learn to stop moaning and change your driving style. If you’ve got very deep pockets, maybe you take longer to learn that lesson. Today, Stroll gets two penalty points for bad driving that wrecked anouther’s race whilst Sergeant received two penalty points plus a ten second penalty for totally understandable confusion about who was ahead at the SC line.
Gimi
21st April 2024, 15:31
Stroll is a 8th year veteran that drives that still drives like a rookie, he had potential early on his career I dare say he looked better than Russell back in the day in the lower formulas, he just peaked very early on and could never really improve after 2017, his father’s role is both a blessing and a curse for him, sure he had a safe seat pretty much since his start but all this driving without the pressure of being out of a seat has got him stuck forever at the same skill, maybe he got even worse, I think 2017 Stroll would be more than a match for 2024 Stroll, I just hope Lawrence can send him to WEC next year because Stroll is just not F1 level anymore.
Also the F1 gods can sent Magnussen some place else too, dirty ass driver that like Stroll has just gone backwards in his far too long F1 career.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st April 2024, 19:02
Mmm, sainz for example, he was pretty bad in 2022 but improved a lot last year and now even better despite not having a seat any more.
David BR (@david-br)
21st April 2024, 16:37
Was that initial ‘someone else’ Alonso? No idea to be honest as I can’t recall seeing the start of the concertina, but seem to remember the commentators saying as such.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
21st April 2024, 16:54
The camera angles aren’t great but I think the argument someone else started a concertina is a weak one. The speed they’re going and the relative distances between the cars as a whole means each of them has the opportunity to disapate anything sudden accordingly.
He ended up with his nose two feet under the RB. Just like with a road traffic accident, he either couldn’t see or couldn’t read the road ahead, that doesn’t make it those ahead of hims fault.
SteveP
21st April 2024, 16:46
Ah, priceless. Stroll is sure it was someone else at fault – the guy in the front of the train of cars that braked hard.
That was your teammate, Lance.
Would you like to pass the penalty across the garage? or maybe not.
bull mello (@bullmello)
21st April 2024, 17:21
Stroll is blaming others for his mistake. That is sad.
Other drivers slowed before the corner. He did not.
Why does Stroll not learn?
If you caused an accident, take the blame. You caused it.
Even on roadway rules, a driver plows into the car in front of them, that is the behind driver’s fault. You cannot cause an accident with a car in front of you who slows or stops.
Does Stroll have a roadway license? Wondering…
S
22nd April 2024, 4:02
Not always.
Well – to hold a super licence, he can’t not have a (road) driving licence.
Anirudh S
24th April 2024, 1:59
Max Verstappen wasn’t eligible for a road license when he made his F1 Debut!!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st April 2024, 19:03
Fun indeed that someone else is to blame, wouldn’t have expected that!
Dale
21st April 2024, 19:47
He is correct.
If Lawrence Stroll hadn’t allowed F1 to become a hobby / playing for Lance, that accident would probably never have happened.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
21st April 2024, 20:43
If there ever was a slam dunk penalty, it’s this one. He took out of the race one car with floor damage and also made Piastri lose a chunk of time and possibly overtake Russell. Spoiled boy mentality.
Mayrton
22nd April 2024, 7:06
Penalty Ocon!
Jockey Ewing
21st April 2024, 20:50
Sure, it was the Wendigo.
N
21st April 2024, 22:03
Ericsson, it was definitely Ericsson’s fault.
Riker (@corsair)
21st April 2024, 22:59
I was going to make the exact same comment! Hehe.
Dane
22nd April 2024, 0:38
We all came up to a corner and somebody braked! It was completely unexpected!
Lol, Stroll is an absolute joke.
Edvaldo
22nd April 2024, 1:26
I believe Tsunoda will be taking the seat when the Honda deal kicks in.
Alonso is already signed so they’ll finally get rid of Stroll.
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd April 2024, 8:06
He doesn’t understand if you drive into the back of a car you get penalized? He wasn’t even looking in front of him but looking to the right. For his comment durintg the race AND for this comment he should get 6 extra penaulty points.
Laraine Rowles
22nd April 2024, 16:18
i was always a fan of Lance Stroll, thinking he was always given bad press because of being the son of Lawrence Stroll, the Owner of Aston Martin. I was the one who was wrong. Give the seat next year to Carlos Seinz instead. (in my dreams). Lucky to have Fernando Alonso, he is doing a great job.