Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack has praised Lance Stroll for his “great comeback” at the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend.
Stroll endured a difficult qualifying session, dropping out in Q2 after ending up in 13th place.
He was one of three shock exits from the session, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also failed to advance into the final segment of qualifying.
In the race, Stroll was classified in ninth place after pipping Valtteri Bottas across the finish line, benefitting from a penalty for Lando Norris.
Krack highlighted that Stroll’s progress was hurt by his first pit stop, which was made one lap before a Safety Car was called following a crash for George Russell.
“It was good to see Lance make a great comeback and score valuable points too,” Krack said. “He was heavily disadvantaged by the Safety Car.
“It came out a lap after his first pitstop, which cost him several positions and undid much of his hard work in the opening laps.
“He kept his head down and recovered well to take ninth place on the final lap. We leave Montréal, our second home race, with 20 important points for the Constructors’ Championship.”
With Stroll in ninth, team-mate Fernando Alonso had a much more successful day as he bagged his sixth podium of the 2023 season in second place.
However, it wasn’t a stress-free run to the finish as he was forced to lift and coast to manage an issue late on in the race.
“There was not a moment to relax as Fernando stayed close to Max [Verstappen] and kept a gap to Lewis [Hamilton] to finish second,” Krack added.
“We also had to play it safe with some lift and coast to manage a fuel system issue.”
Aston Martin was able to gain on Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship in Montreal, as it outscored the Brackley-based squad by five points.
It sits just 13 points behind in third place ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix next week.
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