For the second time this season, Lance Stroll found himself at the foot of the podium placing fourth in the Spanish Grand Prix aboard his Racing Point.
• Read also: Easy race for Hamilton
He is now installed at 5e rank (tied with Alexander Albon) in the cumulative ranking of drivers after the first six stages of the championship with a total of 40 points.
In fact, the Quebec driver came to the finish in fifth position, but a five-second penalty imposed on his teammate, Sergio Perez, allowed him to gain a place on the table. The Mexican held a 2.3 second lead over Stroll when the checkered flag was waved.
“I didn’t try to overtake Sergio since I was warned of his penalty,” said Stroll, who for much of the race was able to stand up to Perez. The latter made only one stop (on the 29th passage).
Change of strategy
Lance Stroll admits being surprised when asked, at 42e turn, to return to the pits a second time to fit his car with new tires.
“Our initial plan was to quit once,” he explained. But, at the end of the day, I am very satisfied with my result and especially with my start to the race. “
After starting from fifth place when the red lights went out, Stroll slipped inside the first corner, mocking Valtteri Bottas to climb to third.
“This start made my race,” he remarked. I saw an opening and took advantage of it. “
Perez doesn’t understand
Pérez, he criticized the penalty served by the commissioners for non-compliance with a blue flag. This signaling is meant when a faster car is behind you, in this case a driver taking a turn. In this case, it was the point guard, Lewis Hamilton.
“He caught up to me very late at the end of the straight,” Pérez said. I don’t understand where I should have been on the track. It is an unfair decision. “
However, the video resumption tends to prove Pérez right, who left the passage to his opponent before the first corner. The fault may have been committed a little earlier and was not shown on TV.
What you must remember
Hamilton sets the record straight
After being beaten to wear and tear by Max Verstappen at Silverstone the previous week, Lewis Hamilton was able to set the record straight by winning with panache the Spanish Grand Prix, which he led from start to finish. At the top of his game and alone on his planet, the Briton has just rewritten the F1 record book by reaching the podium for the 156e times in his career, one more presence than Michael Schumacher.
Mercedes, verstappen and … the rest
Max Verstappen has once again shown in Spain that he is the only driver on the field who can worry the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. As proof, everyone else, including Lance Stroll and his Racing Point teammate Sergio Pérez, ranked fourth and fifth respectively, finished one lap behind the winner in Barcelona.
Stroll equals his best harvest
By finishing off the podium twice this season, Stroll matched his best points record (40) since his F1 debut. A plateau he had reached in his rookie year in 2017. What is more, the Spanish Grand Prix marked his 68th start in F1, which allows him to overtake Gilles Villeneuve (67) in second place among all the drivers. Canadian. Jacques, Gilles’ son, takes first place on the board with 163 participations.
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