Lance Stroll made up more than ten places during the Las Vegas Grand Prix and was feeling good because he had a fast car. The Canadian got off to a good start and managed to maintain his place in the top ten, even when more happened in the race. Team boss Mike Krack adds that it also helped that Stroll still had two new sets of the hard tire left, allowing Aston Martin to perfect the strategy.
Stroll started the race from P14, but had a masterful opening phase and immediately made up many places. The Canadian eventually crossed the line in fifth place and took home ten points for his team. “I didn’t expect much to happen today,” Stroll told Motorsport.com. “The first lap was pretty good, I made up ten positions or so because everyone went wide in Turn 1,” the Aston Martin driver continues. His teammate Fernando Alonso spun, and Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez were also involved in an incident in the first corner. Many drivers went wide, clearing the way for Stroll.
During the first safety car phase, the Canadian gave up his top ten position to pick up the hard tire, which he was able to do again during the second safety car. “We had good pace and were able to attack all race weekend, which was nice,” Stroll said. “On Friday evening it was difficult to compete with cars like Haas, Alpine and Alfa Romeo, but on race day we clearly had a faster car than them.” Alonso also managed to end his race on a positive note, finishing ninth. Because Carlos Sainz finished in P6, Alonso has dropped one place in the championship. The Spaniard is now sixth. Stroll is tenth, fourteen points behind Oscar Piastri.
Krack proud of Stroll’s tire management
Besides the fact that Stroll drove a good race, it also helped that Aston Martin had well thought out the strategy. According to Krack, the two new sets of hard tires played a key role in Stroll’s race. “You can see that apart from Ocon, everyone who was out of two sets has dropped out of the points,” says Krack. That last set helped Stroll to the finish. It is the second time in a row that the Canadian has taken P5. “When the results come, you also gain more self-confidence,” says the Luxembourger. ‘He dropped out yesterday in Q2, but that was no drama. He’s slowly building self-confidence, and those are things you can’t measure. In addition, it was nice to see that he managed the tires really well. And then he was able to overtake a few people. If you take everything together, the results will come.’
