Lance Stroll drove superbly at the Miami International Autodrome last Sunday, to claim a point despite having started from the pit-lane. On the other side of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, Sebastian Vettel had another race to forget after being forced into retirement late-on.
Stroll did brilliantly to work his way through the field at the Miami Grand Prix, the Canadian started the race on the Hard compound and ran deep into the Grand Prix. The Aston Martin driver made the most of the race’s only Safety Car, by pitting the moment it was brought out.
This saved Stroll valuable seconds, leaving him within touching distance of a points finish. Stroll initially crossed the line in eleventh-place but was bumped up to tenth after Fernando Alonso was awarded a late time penalty.
The Canadian spoke to the media before Alonso’s penalty was awarded, about how frustrated he was to have at the time, just missed out on some points.
“Overall a frustrating afternoon. It was a shame to start from the pit lane but once the race was underway we showed some reasonable pace today. It was quite difficult to overtake off-line, but we made good decisions and put ourselves in a position to finish inside the top 10 by pitting under the Safety Car. I think points could have been on the table, but a bad restart and contact with Kevin [Magnussen] prevented that.”
“The DRS was not that effective” – Sebastian Vettel
Vettel won’t be remembering the inaugural race in Miami in a hurry, the German driver was forced into a late retirement after being hit by Mick Schumacher.
The pair were battling for the lower end of the points places, when Schumacher dived up the inside of his “mentor” at Turn 1. Vettel was unaware that his German compatriot was alongside, turning into him at the corner.
The collision caused too much damage to Vettel’s AMR22, bringing a disappointing end to his Miami Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion was disappointed to have seen his race end the way it did, the German explained how overtaking at the newly-built circuit wasn’t actually that easy.
“It is a shame for this weekend to end in the way that it did and we should have done better. We had a fuel temperature issue before the race which meant that we started from the pit lane. For the majority of the race I was stuck in traffic, it was quite difficult to overtake, and the DRS was not that effective. When the Safety Car was deployed, we moved into the top 10, but Mick [Schumacher] and I had contact, which cost both of us points.”
Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team