Lance Stroll joked that Racing Point got four of its five tyre calls wrong during a frenetic German Grand Prix, as he took his best result of the 2019 campaign.
Stroll spent much of the race outside of the points and as the circuit dried three-quarters of the way into the race he opted to take on slick tyres.
Stroll was at the back of the train when the Safety Car peeled into the pits, but found himself in the lead soon after when all his rivals also switched to slicks.
Stroll ultimately slipped to fourth by the chequered flag but it still represented his and Racing Point’s best result of the season, and his second-highest classification in his Formula 1 career.
“We got it wrong four out of the five times! We went on slicks, then it started raining, then I spun twice in one lap, so I was limping back to the pit lane.
“We fitted the Inters, and then it was dry, and it started to dry up, so we fitted another set of Inters because we were destroying those Inters, and then we fitted the slicks at the end.
“I’ll have to re-watch the race and figure it all out, because it’s a lot to reflect on and explain in detail.
“It was definitely an exciting one, and it goes to show that in these conditions, it’s never over until it’s over.”
Stroll added that he had no qualms about missing out on the podium, believing he and Racing Point must see the result as a huge positive.
“Initially I didn’t have very good pace on the slicks, but once everyone settled in, I had quite good pace, and we were in the hunt for a podium,” he said.
“Unfortunately it slipped away from us. I made an error in Turn 8 on my second or third lap on slicks, and that allowed [Daniil] Kvyat to overtake me.
“If only that wouldn’t have happened, I think we had the podium. But it’s still a great result, P4.
“[The glass is] always half full. Got to be positive.”
