Securing a strong seventh-place finish for Aston Martin, Lance Stroll claimed that the result was a “big uplift for the team.”
Finishing a place above teammate Fernando Alonso, Stroll noted that the team did well throughout the weekend, and “were quick since lap one of FP1 and really solid weekend.”
The race weekend at Silverstone was tumultuous at times, with rain and changing weather conditions adding to the demanding circuit. From the start of the weekend, Stroll felt a positive shift in the AMR24’s performance.
“It was great. It was great. Big uplift for the team this weekend.”
A key moment within Stroll’s race came when drivers started to pit for inters. He had been running in P7 as Ferrari botched the strategy with Charles Leclerc. However, Hülkenberg and Alonso dropped him to P9 in two laps.
But with Alonso staying out a lap too long, Stroll came in for inters at the right time and jumped his teammate by 10s. Benefitting from Russell’s retirement, he crossed the line in 7th.
Stroll described the experience of running on dry tyres in tricky conditions as nerve-wracking.
“I was not confident, I was shitting my pants,” he admitted.
“When it starts raining at such a high speed track like this, the mixed conditions are so tough because you’ve got to really keep your foot in it, believe and commit to the corners.
“But with a bit of rain on the visor, wet patches creeping in, it is just so easy to lose the car and hit the barrier.”
The challenge for the team was when they needed to choose the right moment to switch to intermediate tyres, as the track became wetter.
“It was just so hard to keep the car on track in the first place, so to be honest, I’m happy to pick up the points.”
The team’s performance marked only the fourth time this season that both cars finished in the points, with Alonso coming home behind Stroll in eighth.
The cooler temperatures and mixed conditions seemed to favor the AMR24, which has struggled in hotter, more stable conditions this season.
Reflecting on the improvements, Stroll said changes were made ahead of the event. Ever since they heavily updated the car at Imola, they have been really struggling. They scored no points in Spain or Austria.
“We have an idea. We changed a few bits coming into this weekend. I think we learned a lot and hopefully, we can keep it up going forward.”
With some further insight gained on the strengths of the car, Stroll is optimistic about the team’s prospects.
“It was definitely one of the more intense races, it was a bit like Canada earlier in the year,” Stroll said, highlighting parallels with another successful outing in mixed conditions.
