Lance Stroll felt traffic cost him the time that prevented him from advancing out of the first segment of Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, with the Canadian set to start the first race of 2019 from sixteenth on the grid.
Stroll has made the move from Williams Racing to the Racing Point F1 Team for his third season in Formula 1 but having missed out on a number of Q2 appearances last year due to the uncompetitive nature of the FW41, he was again sitting on the side-lines after Q1 after coming across Romain Grosjean, who was on an out-lap himself.
He definitely felt the pace was in the car to advance through, particularly as team-mate Sergio Pérez was able to not only get out of Q1 but advance into Q3, but he hopes to make moves forward on race day and hope to bring a good finish for his new team.
“My best lap today was affected by traffic,” bemoaned the Canadian. “I came across Grosjean, who was on an out lap, at turn nine and it definitely cost me a few tenths.
“It’s a real shame because I really felt good with the car today and we had the speed to progress to at least Q2. All I can do now is try and make up some positions at the start and see how things play out in the race.
“I think we look quite competitive with our race pace so we can still come away with a good result.”
