Lance Stroll considers his penalty “a joke”
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) collided with Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) as the field regrouped on the penultimate corner for a 27ᵉ lap restart this Sunday at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Australian driver was forced to abandon his race, his car being too badly damaged.
As the peloton regrouped to start the 27th lap, Lance Stroll collided with the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s car, lifting the RB car into the air and causing damage. Ricciardo was pushed into McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who also suffered damage that compromised the rest of his race.
Stroll’s Aston Martin’s nose hit Ricciardo’s VCARB diffuser and the latter ended up with both rear wheels in the air. The Australian still managed to continue his race, but after a few laps, his team asked him to return to the pits to retire due to significant damage to the floor and diffuser.
Penalties described as a joke by the driver
The stewards completely reproached Stroll for not taking more precautions to avoid contact. They therefore imposed a 10-second penalty and two penalty points on his Super License, bringing his total to seven over the past 12 months. Despite finally crossing the finish line of the GP in fifteenth place outside the points, Stroll considered the penalties he received as a joke.
“I think it’s just because I hit the guy,” Stroll said when Autosport asked him why he had described the penalty against him as a joke on his team radio.
When Canal+ asked him about the reasons for the crash, the Canadian once again exonerated himself: « I think someone braked in front,” he justified. “I don’t know who. And then, it’s the accordion effect. Everyone braked, and I was the last one and I touched Ricciardo.”
« It’s frustrating because I ended up with a penalty, but the incident was caused by someone in the front of the pack braking suddenly,” he insisted. « There was a really strange accordion effect that I would have liked to see the sports commissioners take into consideration maybe a little more.”
I received a penalty because of the final result when I hit Ricciardo, but it’s not like everything was normal and I just bumped into him from behind.
However, he did not just touch Ricciardo’s car. It wasn’t a slight contact, insisted the Australian. He lifted my car!
Aston Martin defends its driver.
On the Aston Martin side, team principal Mike Krack obviously defended his driver and also believes that it was a chain reaction caused by the drivers in front. « I would have liked it to be examined in a little more detail. We tried to discuss it, but the verdict was very quickly that Lance was responsible. And he got a 10-second penalty »,” he said. « We need to fully analyze what happened, but it’s a chain reaction caused by the cars ahead of us. »
