Lance Stroll had a weekend in Melbourne that was far from smooth. It started wrong with Stroll and Nicholas Latifi getting entangled in a rather strange crash during qualifying, for which the former received a 3-place grid penalty. What the Canadian driver was really unhappy about, however, was the penalty levied on him for weaving on the straights while trying to defend against Valtteri Bottas.
Speaking about the 5-second time penalty, Stroll said:
“I don’t get it. It was two guys weaving all the time, it’s just the last move really. You can weave down the straight as long as you don’t weave when the guy’s approaching very close behind you. I’m weaving to try and break the slipstream, not to try and defend, and then they penalize me for it. I don’t get it. I guess a lot of funny decisions going on right now.”
According to the stewards, Lance Stroll moved more than once while trying to defend his position against Valtteri Bottas. The summary given by the stewards for the incident stated:
“Stroll returned to the racing line and then moved to the right for a second time to defend from another move by Bottas. The second move breaches the regulation which prohibits more than one change of direction to defend a position.”
It was not the only move by Stroll that came under scrutiny during the race. The Canadian's attempt to overtake Bottas during the virtual safety car restart, where he pushed the Finnish driver off the track, did not go down well with the viewers either. Terming it "good racing," Stroll was defiant about his move and said:
“He was sleeping on the virtual safety car restart, so I caught him sleeping. I felt that was good racing.”
Lance Stroll's team now finds itself at the bottom of the standings
After another poor display by the team followed by Alex Albon's point-scoring finish in Melbourne, Aston Martin now finds itself at the bottom of the standings. The Silverstone-based outfit has been tackling a multitude of issues since the start of the season. Their car suffers from far too much porpoising because of which the team can't unleash its true potential.
To add to this, the drivers have not been the team's strong point this season either, with both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll suffering from crashes. The team is on the backfoot and will need a strong effort to make a comeback to the front.
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