09/09/2019
NEWS STORY
In what must be a first, Lance Stroll has questioned a decision by race stewards, effectively accusing them of being too lenient on him.
Though the hapless victim of Sebastian Vettel's unforced spin at Ascari, which saw the Racing Point clout the stranded Ferrari, in his own efforts to continue Stroll caused Pierre Gasly to take to the gravel in his bid to avoid him.
For rejoining the track in an unsafe manner and forcing Gasly off the track, the Canadian was handed a drive-through (and two penalty points), while Vettel, whose collision with Stroll was deemed a "dangerous incident", was given a 10 second stop-and-go and 3 penalty points.
"He got a 10-second stop and go, I got a drive-through," said the Canadian, "so I think that is not really fair because it was exactly the same thing that I did. I think it should have been an identical penalty.
"Seb came back on the track very aggressively," he admitted, "I was as cautious as I could be with the yellow flags but he was literally blocking the circuit coming back on the track the way he was.
"I tried to avoid him but I think he clipped me, he clipped my rear-right and that spun me around. From there I came back on without being able to see anyone coming from my right so I tried to get back.
"I was in the middle of the circuit out of Turn 10, trying to get out of the way but I think something happened very similar to what happened with Seb. That's racing and a lot of things are unfair about racing."
Arguing that had it not been for Vettel, Stroll wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place, Racing Point team boss, Otmar Szafnauer, said: "Seventh place from P18 on the grid is an excellent turnaround.
"Lance's race was destroyed when Vettel hit him on lap seven. The subsequent undeservedly harsh penalty dropped Lance out of contention for the points.
"It's a real shame because he had made a super start and was running comfortably in seventh place at the time. It was very unlucky: he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"