Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll says he was ‘heartbroken’ after going off at Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix before a red flag rescued his result.
Stroll ran in sixth place for much of the grand prix before it was red-flagged due to Kevin Magnussen’s accident at the exit of Turn 2.
Amid the melee of the standing restart Stroll held a provisional third spot but locked up into Turn 3 and went through the gravel, though stopped fractionally short of the barrier and was able to continue.
That proved fruitful for Stroll’s result as the race order was reset, putting Stroll back into sixth, which became fourth due to the non-starting Pierre Gasly and a penalty for Carlos Sainz.
“There was sadness and disappointment when the race was stopped again but then, crossing the finish line, very happy with the result,” said Stroll.
“I was pretty heartbroken in Turn 3, with a couple of laps to go, when I picked up a right front lock defending from Carlos and I thought I had thrown away a podium finish. It would have been hard to sleep if it had finished like that.
“The tyres were just ice cold, I already felt it coming out of Turn 2, just picking up the power I had a big snap, and then, heading into Turn 3, I was defending from Carlos, he was obviously on my outside and I was on the dirty part of the track.
“As soon as I touched the brakes the front right just started locking up and there was no slowing down the car.
“I was lucky to even bring it back, because as we saw [in qualifying] Pérez got beached there, so we were lucky to get the car back.”
Aston Martin preserved second in the Constructor’s Championship, moving nine points clear of Mercedes, but Stroll reckons the result – with Fernando Alonso third – flattered the team.
“I don’t think we were quite that quick as we were at the first couple of races,” said Stroll.
“Alpine was actually pretty quick, in front of me, Carlos had a strong race, I don’t think we had the kind of edge on the competitors, but still we were solid all weekend and got a good result.”
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