Lance Stroll was left disappointed after his first lap clash with Brendon Hartley on the opening lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, forcing both drivers out of the race.
The hometown hero collided with Hartley's Toro Rosso in Turn 5 in spectacular fashion after getting some oversteer mid-corner and had nowhere to go while the Kiwi was on the outside.
Stroll got yet another superb start off the line and beat both McLaren's to the first corner and Hartley into Turn 3 – Stroll, however, feels he may have had contact with the Toro Rosso which may have caused a puncture.
Both drivers were taken to the medical centre, Stroll was released, however, Hartley has since been taken to hospital for further scans.
"I had a good start and gained a few positions to get up past both McLarens and in 13th," Stroll told Sky Sports.
"Going into Turn 5, I was side-by-side with Brendon and the car got loose on me, I corrected it but it was too late. By the time I corrected it we were side-by-side and I touched him. There wasn’t enough room for the both of us so we went into the wall.
"I had some contact when I overtook the McLarens and then at Turn 4 I touched Brendon, I think he touched me a little bit, potentially there could have been but I haven’t sat down with the engineers yet to go over it."
Race stewards looked into the collision between both drivers but deemed it was a racing incident and decided to take no further action.
When asked if he felt it was a racing incident, Stroll agreed with the stewards' by adding: "Yes, it is racing and things like that happen on first laps with cars side-by-side. That’s how it goes sometimes."
