Mike Krack praised Lance Stroll for the way he drove throughout Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, but he rued the late race safety car that prevented him from finishing higher than tenth.
Stroll was involved in the battle for the minor points throughout the race at Circuit Zandvoort, but the timing of the safety car, caused when Valtteri Bottas stopped on track, left him only tenth when a place as high as seventh could have been achievable.
Sebastian Vettel could only finish fourteenth in the second AMR22, but the German was always going to find the going tough on Sunday after starting down on the back row of the grid in nineteenth.
Krack, the Team Principal at the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, says it was pleasing to leave Zandvoort with a point after a competitive-looking afternoon amongst the Dutch sand dunes, and they can go into the Italian Grand Prix next weekend with some confidence.
“Lance drove very well to score a hard-earned point this afternoon, managing his tyres throughout a tricky Soft-Medium-Hard-Soft three-stop race,” said Krack. “The timing of the Safety Car did not help Lance’s race, but a point is a point.
“Sebastian moved up from his P19 grid slot to a P14 finish, and he was never likely to be able to make better progress than that on a circuit such as this one on which overtaking is difficult.
“From here we go on to Monza, one of the great circuits, but before we leave Zandvoort I would like to pay tribute to the organisers, who managed the race weekend very well, and the Dutch fans, whose enthusiasm made for a fantastic carnival atmosphere.”
