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Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll refused to take responsibility for his clash with Alpine's Fernando Alonso at the US GP in Austin last weekend.
The Canadian collided with Alonso when a sudden move to the left by Stroll coincided with the Spaniard's, who was right behind Stroll's slipstream. That resulted in Stroll's race getting ruined while Alonso pitted for repairs and eventually finished inside the top ten.
Talking after the race, Stroll did not take much responsibility for the clash and put it down as a racing incident. He said:
"I mean, I definitely moved late, but there was a big difference in speed. I was judging more or less, kind of picking where he was behind me. But it's not like I hit him on the side of his car. The impact is still his front wing to the rear of my car. I gave him plenty of room on the left of the track, so it's not like I squeezed him or anything like that against a wall."
He added:
"He could have moved earlier and went more to the left. He didn't have to get so close to me either. So, there's a lot of different ways you could look at the incident. It was a shame. It was close wheel-to-wheel racing and unfortunately just made contact."
Alonso (65) is ninth, while Stroll (15) is 13th in the standings with three races to go.
Fernando Alonso happy with recovery after Lance Stroll clash
Fernando Alonso was very happy with his performance, as he recovered to finish in P7 before he was given a 30-second penalty. Following the race, Alonso said that he was happy with his performance following his clash with Stroll. He said:
"It was a fantastic race for everybody today. We were lucky with the first Safety Car, and we were very fast after that on the medium tyres. At the restart, I tried to overtake Lance (Stroll); he moved towards me. and we touched wheels."
He continued:
"I thought that I would retire the car after the incident, and it was pretty scary. But the car is made of strong stuff, and we were able to carry on after changing the front wing. I'm very proud of our efforts today as a team. It's incredible that we were able to make the tyres last on the final stint and despite losing out to Lando (Norris) on the last few laps, we still come away from this race with some good points."
Ironically, Alonso and Stroll will be teammates at Aston Martin next season.
