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Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has defended Lance Stroll’s abysmal Australian GP weekend. The Canadian managed to rack up several penalties, potentially ruining a chance of a decent finish for the team on the Sunday Down Under.
Krack believes a lot of the situations that Stroll found himself in simply wouldn’t have happened if the team just had a better car. Speaking to RN365, he said:
“I think we need to learn how the new Race Directors govern [the races]. We learned a little bit the hard way [in Melbourne]. But we will keep it under control. Obviously, when the car is not as easy as you want it, then the drivers try as much as possible to defend. So, it’s a combination of new ways of governance, but that would be too easy to say. If we had a better car, we would not have these issues.”
Aston Martin was already having a miserable weekend in Melbourne when Lance Stroll got himself involved in a freak accident with Williams' Nicholas Latifi during the first part of qualifying. The Canadians tangled during their cooldown laps, leading to substantial damage to both cars.
Stroll was promptly eliminated from Qualifying and faced a tough challenge on Sunday when he tried to mount a fightback. During the race, he was caught weaving on the straights while desperately trying to keep Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas behind. The Canadian was promptly hit with a five-second penalty and a point on his super license.
Furthermore, Stroll was also penalized shortly after when he forced Bottas off the track at Turn 4 to maintain track position following the safety car restart. While Bottas eventually passed the Canadian on track, he wasn’t too impressed with the latter’s tactics, saying “that’s not how you should race”.
Lance Stroll questions “funny decisions” following Australian GP penalties
Lance Stroll questioned “funny decisions” made by the FIA at the Australian GP after he received multiple penalties for his various infringements across the season. Stroll felt that he raced hard and fair and was still penalized. Speaking to Autosport, the Canadian said:
“I don’t get it. I guess a lot of funny decisions going on right now. I thought that was good racing. It’s annoying to get penalized, because I don’t really understand their reasoning behind it, but it didn’t change our final position.”
Stroll’s race day penalties ultimately didn’t have an impact on his finishing position of P12. He, however, could have potentially scored the team’s first points of the season, if not for his crash in qualifying and a subsequent grid penalty.
