F1 fans were left frustrated as Aston Martin F1 driver Lance Stroll crashed out of the SQ2. Hence, it denied his teammate Fernando Alonso the opportunity to set a time in the Sprint Shootout session.
The Canadian was looking to get out of the danger zone in the SQ2 session on Saturday as he and the team decided to put on medium tires and take a gamble on a damp Spa Francorchamps track.
While doing the hot lap, Lance Stroll realized that they have been a bit too eager to put on slick tires and it was a bit too early to take such a gamble. The accident was not only costly for him but also for his teammate Fernando Alonso. He not set any time throughout the session as he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to go out.
F1 fans took to social media to react to the accident with one fan even claiming that Stroll ruined the Spaniard's birthday plans, saying:
"Fernando Alonso will not be happy with his birthday gift."
Here are some more reactions:
Fernando Alonso analyzes his Friday qualifying session
Although he was not able to set a time in the SQ2 session, Fernando Alonso had a slightly better outing during the Friday Qualifying session for the main race.
As per F1.com, Fernando Alonso said:
“Qualifying was stressful. Every lap was a new game – you had to adapt all the time to the changing levels of grip. You had to trust the car – we were taking corners faster and faster each lap, so it was a little bit of a guessing game. We progressed through Q1 and Q2, which was one of our main targets. Q3 was extremely tight – we ended up a few tenths off seventh place, which was probably the maximum we could have achieved today."
“I think the AMR23 was behaving well today: we’re still missing those final couple of tenths to our main competitors – particularly over a flying lap – but hopefully we can recover some of that pace on Sunday," he added.
It will be interesting to see how the two-time world champion Alonso tackles both races in this weekend.