Lance Stroll has labelled the 2019 British Grand Prix “a weekend to forget” as he recorded his fourteenth Q3 exit in a row before a relatively anonymous run to thirteenth place in the race.
Stroll started his Racing Point F1 Team‘s home race from a disappointing eighteenth place but in his customary style, gained three places at the start of the race.
A blocked brake duct meant an early pit-stop for the Canadian, the disadvantage being compounded by others benefitting from a fortuitously timed safety car. Stroll attempted to take his Hard compound tyres to the end of the race but abandoned the strategy with thirteen laps to go, stopping again for Soft tyres, having dropped from eleventh to fourteenth.
Despite donning the fresh set of tyres, Stroll was only able to get the better of George Russell to take the checkered flag in thirteenth.
“I think it’s a weekend to forget, to be honest,” said Stroll. “Things just haven’t worked out for us. I had a good start and I was up three places by the end of the first lap.
“Unfortunately we had to pit earlier than planned to remove some debris from my left front brake duct and that really hurt our strategy.
“We had been aiming for a one-stop race, but ended up stopping twice because the team changed me to the soft tyre for the final stint.
“I think the team was hoping the cars ahead would run out of tyre life, but unfortunately it didn’t happen quickly enough.”
The result marks a three-race non-scoring run for Stroll who remains sixteenth in the drivers’ standings with six points, three positions and seven points behind team-mate Sergio Pérez.
