Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll took home one point after a tenth place finish at the eventful Brazilian Grand Prix, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel crossed the line just outside of the points in eleventh.
Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack was pleased to see the team competing for points in the mid-field, but ultimately felt that they missed out on a greater result with several elements of the race not playing into their favour.
“This was a thrilling race on a fantastic racetrack in front of a terrific crowd – but, despite running in the top 10 for the entire afternoon and coming home with a valuable World Championship point, things did not really work out for us today.”
Krack said that Vettel’s race was compromised by the safety cars, particularly the final restart on the medium tyres which saw him struggle to keep pace with the soft-runners.
“Sebastian raced hard on a two-stop strategy, running as high as third, but the timings of the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car really played against him today.”
On the other side of the garage, Krack said that Stroll’s efforts off the start and throughout the race earned the team a valuable point in their tight Constructors Championship battle with Alfa Romeo Racing.
“From 15th, Lance made another customary blistering start and was able to run on the edge of the top 10, ultimately scoring a point.
After a race that saw several mid-race conflicts between team-mates, Krack said that Stroll and Vettel’s teamwork was key in the result they were able to extract in Interlagos. He looks forward to one final race in Abu Dhabi before the winter break, where the team hopes to extend the performance they were able to achieve this weekend.
“I want to thank both drivers’ teamwork today – Lance helped Sebastian to gain ground after his second stop; then Sebastian moved aside to let Lance challenge Valtteri [Bottas] for ninth place. We come away encouraged by our pace and will go again one final time in Abu Dhabi next weekend.”
