Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll finished the Brazilian Grand Prix in tenth place, collecting a point for the team after an eventful race. He explained that he lacked pace on the mediums, but found success on the softs at the end of the race. His final stint allowed him to crack the points, having been able to gain positions after the late-race safety car restart.
“There was a lot going on in the race, but we were able to take some chances towards the end. We did not have much pace with the Medium tyre earlier on in the race but the balance on the Soft was much better.”
Stroll noted that Alfa Romeo Racing extended their lead ahead of Aston Martin this weekend, with Valtteri Bottas finishing a position ahead in ninth place. Alfa Romeo now sits in sixth with fifty-five points, five points ahead of Aston Martin.
Stroll hopes to put together a successful run at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and make his best attempt at the ambitious task of overtaking Alfa Romeo in the constructor’s championship.
“It is a nice feeling to score a point after a challenging weekend as a whole but it is a shame that Alfa Romeo pulled a little bit further away from us in the Constructors’ Championship today. It will be tough, but we will try and overhaul them in Abu Dhabi next weekend.”
“It feels like we should have scored more points today” – Sebastian Vettel
Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was disappointed to have left Brazil without points, having finished in eleventh place after starting ninth on the grid. He attributes the positions he lost to the unlucky timing of the safety cars and his tyre strategy.
“I made a decent start but lost a couple of positions at the first pit-stop and that started to reshape my afternoon.
“I had decent pace, but the timing of the second Safety Car did not go in my favour because I was on Mediums while a lot of cars around me were on Softs for the restart.”
Given the uncontrollable factors of the race, Vettel said that they maximised as much as they could but weren’t able to take home the amount of points they would have liked to. He now turns to Abu Dhabi, his final race before retirement, where he will be looking to make a final push for key points in the championship.
“It feels like we should have scored more points today – but, given how things played out, I do not think we could have done much more than we did. That is racing sometimes. We will go again in Abu Dhabi next week.”
Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team