Lance Stroll said he “didn’t do anything reckless” as he battled with teammate Sebastian Vettel for the final points-granting spot at the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix.
The German struggled to try and overtake the Canadian in the closing stages of the race, closing in on the final lap. Midway through the turn into the finish straight, Stroll appeared to brake suddenly, forcing Vettel to do the same to avoid contact.
The German raised his left hand in an obvious gesture of frustration as he accelerated out of the corner and saw the checkered flag. After the test, Vettel downplayed the move, as Aston Martin as a team still held tenth position.
“I closed the gap on the previous lap,” he said. “I think he was faster, but it doesn’t matter, it’s the same point for the team. He hit the brakes before accelerating, so he caught me by surprise, and then I lost the duel.”
“In the end, as I said, it’s the same point for the team, so there’s no difference,” explained the four-time world champion.
Stroll , for his part, told his team he was “out of breath” immediately after the checkered flag, but denied he had braked any differently, suggesting he oversteered a bit.
“I skidded a bit, like at the start, so my wheels skidded,” he said. “I think everyone wants to do it the same way I do every weekend, I didn’t do anything reckless, I just defended myself as if someone was behind me.”
The Canadian driver stated that he was having problems with the tires , which compromised his performance in the final part: “I was struggling with the tires, and doing everything I had to do until the checkered flag. I think everything was under control”.
“But yes, it was difficult for me with the hard ones, the medium one was better. Then there were some laps where I felt good, but others were complicated by overheating of the front and rear when skidding,” he said.
“In the last couple of laps, after the virtual safety car, I felt like I had something more than Daniel [Ricciardo] to go for ninth, but then I lost him and I had the pressure from Seb [Vettel], so it was a good fight, but in the end I’m happy to get a point,” added Stroll.
His teammate was frustrated that he was one of only two, along with Nicholas Latifi, not to pit when the safety car came out after Charles Leclerc’s crash. He was behind the Canadian at the time, so the two Aston Martins would have had to adjust the timing of their pitlane stops a lot.
“It is what it is, it was clean air that I needed but I didn’t have,” Vettel said. “It’s not like we had the pace to win but I think we could have been quicker and had a better race, I don’t know what happened at the stop so I was last so that’s something to keep in mind.”
“I was very happy, I think we have improved throughout the race, with the stop we have corrected the balance. Considering that we have the same pace as Williams [in qualifying], I think we were quite a bit faster on Sunday”, sentenced the four-time champion.
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