Lance Stroll has certainly had a rough last few races. From starting dead last on the grid in Monza, a hard crash in qualifying at Singapore that forced him to miss the race, and having no points to his name since Spa almost 2 months ago, it seemed like his confidence had disappeared. To add, he was recently under fire for shoving his performance coach after an extremely disappointing Friday qualifying in Qatar.
However, in the US GP, starting from the pit lane following changes to the car that breached parc fermé conditions, the Canadian driver finished an impressive P9 on the track, which then led to him being promoted to P7 after the disqualifications of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. He almost got Pierre Gasly at the end of the race, too.
This was badly needed for a driver who’s had a shocking spell of results on track.
Photo Credit: Aston Martin Cognizant Aramco Formula One Team
When asked about how he felt in the car due to the set-up change, Stroll was clear and concise; starting from the pit lane was a good choice in order to set up the car better for racing conditions.
“We changed a lot of things on the car I think it was much better today.”
However, his race started off with a small gaff, going to the grid instead of the pit lane. Stroll laughed it off and said it was a force of habit.
“Just habits, going to the grid! Then just pushed into the pits.”
When asked about the new upgrade brought to the car for last weekend, Stroll said that the race was the best session for them following a bruising Friday and Saturday.
“Much better day today. They didn’t work good yesterday or the day before but they worked better today.”
All in all, Stroll can be happy about his race, and he seemed relieved when he finally had something good to talk about for the first time in a few months.
“It was a much better day today than we’ve had in a long time so I think it was nice — starting from the pit lane and finishing in the points is always hard and we did it today, so that was very positive.”
The Canadian overtook Hülkenberg, Sargeant, Ricciardo Bottas and Tsunoda on his way to P9 on the road, with Aston Martin extending the first two stints to have fresher tyres later in the second and third ones.
“Very exciting [race]. Some very good overtakes into turn 12.”
While Stroll has picked up points, he is now out of the top 10 in the Drivers’ championship, having been passed by Pierre Gasly. It is now up to the Canadian to see if this decent form continues and can climb back into the top 10 to finish there for the first time in his career.
