A beautiful fourth place for Stroll in Hockenheim… and a slight disappointment

Criticized for his sluggish start to the season, in a team owned by his father, Lance Stroll certainly silenced his detractors this weekend. Firstly by finally getting out of Q1 on Saturday, with a 15th place. And inevitably with this fourth place at the finish. An unthinkable result, even if the Racing Point team had come with improvements on their car.

Lance Stroll made the right move by being the first to switch to soft tires towards the end of the race after pitting five times. This gamble was made during the penultimate Safety Car intervention, 20 laps from the finish, as the track was just starting to dry. But the former Williams driver did not go off the track. He then moved from fifteenth to second place after the other drivers’ pit stops!

Finally finishing fourth, Sergio Pérez’s teammate achieved the second-best result of his career, after the podium secured in Baku during the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

What an incredible day! This fourth place is superb considering what happened. I was at the back for a large part of the race. I spun out several times and stopped five times. But as special as this fourth place is, I’m disappointed that the podium slipped away from us.

The glass is half full but also half empty. Passed by Daniil Kvyat on lap 51, then by Sebastian Vettel two laps before the finish, Lance Stroll is disappointed. While the Ferrari’s overtaking was predictable, the Toro Rosso’s pass leaves Stroll with more regrets.

« I think the crucial moment was my mistake in the eighth turn, during my second or third lap with the slick tires, just as Daniil was trying to get past me. »

Keep your spirits up nonetheless! This fourth place is simply Racing Point’s best result of the season, a team officially born in early 2019 following Force India.

This race shows that you should never give up until it’s over. It’s fabulous to see how much this result matters for the team. It was so special to see the mechanics celebrating as I crossed the finish line. It’s an important result for everyone in the team.

With this result, the Racing Point team gains a place in the constructors’ standings, seventh (31 points), five points ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas! As for Lance Stroll, he makes a spectacular climb to the twelfth position in the overall drivers’ standings with 18 points, five ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez, who was the first driver to retire from the German Grand Prix after his crash at the very start of the race. Then in 11th position, the Mexican might also have benefited from a chaotic race!

THIS is what it means… ❤️#MakeItCount #F1 #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/IxyTSI403L

— SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team (@RacingPointF1) July 28, 2019