“A disappointing end to the triple-header” – Lance Stroll

It was a disappointing end to the triple-header for Lance Stroll who after starting in ninth, fell backwards early on at the Austrian Grand Prix to finish thirteenth. Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished seventeenth after a last lap crash.

As the race got underway, it became very clear that Stroll was on the wrong strategy. Stroll started the race on the soft tyres, with Aston Martin opting for a two-stop with both of their drivers.

This proved to be the wrong strategy with the majority of the field completing a one-stop after starting the race on the medium or hard Pirelli tyres. Stroll found himself constantly playing catch-up, the Canadian kept getting stuck in traffic and was unable to capitalise on his fresh rubber.

It brings a disappointing end to the triple-header for Stroll, who is looking forward to the teams home race at Silverstone.

“It was not the race we were hoping for today. I think it is clear, with hindsight, that starting on the Softs was not ideal, although we managed to keep ourselves in the fight for points during the first phase of the race. When we made our first stop to get onto a set of new Hards, we came out in quite a bit of traffic.

“With cars on different strategies and tyres, it meant we lost time and did not take advantage of the peak of the tyre early in the second stint, which impacted our race. It is a disappointing end to the triple-header, but I am excited to get going for our home race at Silverstone in a couple of weeks. It is a very different circuit and we also have a new weekend format, so it is a clean slate and a chance to bounce back.”

“We did not have the speed to fight for points” – Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel like Stroll, had a disappointing race at the Red Bull Ring. The four-time world champion was challenging for eleventh place on the final lap, however an unsighted Kimi Räikkönen who was being overtaken by Vettel on the inside of turn five, hit Vettel’s rear-left tyre sending both sideways into the gravel trap.

Thankfully Vettel kept his Aston Martin out of the wall and managed to bring it home in seventeenth place. It wasn’t the way Vettel wanted to end the triple-header but he is looking forward to hopefully finding some improvements at the next grand prix.

“It was not an easy race today, which ended with a trip through the gravel because of the misunderstanding with Kimi [Räikkönen]. I guess he just did not see me in front of him. The first I knew about it was the contact I felt on the left rear. I had made a good exit out of Turn Four and was pulling ahead of Kimi on the right as we approached Turn Five. I do not think there was any intention from Kimi.

“Even before that, we did not have the speed to fight for points today. The balance inside the car felt alright, but the cars on the Medium tyres had better performance in the opening stint when I was stuck in traffic without any clean air. It is disappointing not to score points, but we will work hard to understand where we can improve before we get to the next race at Silverstone.”

Credit: Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team