Lance Stroll admits it was not the ‘smoothest’ year of his Formula 1 career to date, and he feels there were a number of opportunities missed by himself and his BWT Racing Point Formula One Team.
The Canadian had some strong moments during the 2020 season, securing his maiden pole position in wet conditions for the Turkish Grand Prix and finishing on the podium in both the Italian and Sakhir Grand Prix, but there were other moments across the year that could have been better.
Stroll feels he should have had podium finishes in both the Hungarian and Tuscan Grand Prix but for the weather to affect the first and a puncture to force him out of the latter.
However, it is the race in Turkey that the twenty-two-year-old feels was the biggest missed opportunity as, after leading for more than half the laps, he fell to ninth by the chequered flag after picking up damage to his front wing.
He also missed the Eifel Grand Prix when he was affected by health issues that ultimately turned out to be coronavirus, and ultimately. he ended up eleventh in the championship standings, fifty points behind team-mate Sergio Pérez.
“We definitely had a very strong car, the team has done an incredible job over the winter to develop this car,” Stroll is quoted as saying by Motorsportweek.com. “From my side, I don’t think it was the smoothest year.
“There’s been some big highlights, the pole as great, two podiums but I think we had a lot more podium opportunities and just points on the table in general that we didn’t pick up if I look back at the season in total.
“Hungary was an opportunity for a podium but there was some wet weather that mixed things up, we ended up finishing fourth. Mugello, we definitely were on for a podium. We were P4 and hunting down P3 with much better pace there.
“I think Turkey was a major missed opportunity, we were leading the race for 30 laps and finished the race ninth in the end with car damage.
“There’s quite a few races I think that slipped away from us and then of course, I got COVID. There were some missed opportunities this year so that’s a little bit frustrating but that’s part of the sport.
“It’s all about highs and lows. Enjoying the highs and accepting that sometimes there are some rough patches, and unfortunately in the second part of the season, we’ve had a few rough patches.”
