Despite starting from pole position for the opening race of the weekend at the Pau Grand Prix, Lance Stroll was unable to convert that into a race victory after a lacklustre start condemned him to ninth place.
The Prema Powerteam driver was slow away from the grid, allowing a lot of the chasing pack to pass him into turn one, meaning the Canadian did not have the opportunity to claim his second victory of the season at the classic French venue.
“Unfortunately I didn’t start well from the pole and fell back to ninth place, so I just focused in completing the race without making mistakes which would have been easy to make given the weather,” said Stroll.
“I held onto ninth place and scored two points.”
Starting from fourth for Saturday’s second race, Stroll also lost a position there, but was able to move back into fourth by the race’s conclusion, and admitted making no mistakes and bringing his car home for the points was more important than attempting to make a pass to possibly take a podium finish.
“In the following race I was starting from row 2, I move to fifth place on the opening lap and finished fourth,” said Stroll.
“As happened in race 1, the most important thing was not to make mistake and collect as many points as possible for the standings.”
Stroll applied near race-long pressure on Alessio Lorandi during Sunday’s Pau Grand Prix, but was unable to pass the Italian, before forced to settle for second, with the result taking him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings.
“It has been a good race,” said Stroll. “I started well and, after the safety-car, I tried to pressure Alessio.
“Unfortunately on this track is almost impossible to pass if the driver in front doesn’t make mistakes. I’m satisfied with our podium finish and ready to focus on next weekend’s round at Red Bull Ring”.