Both Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack were “happy” that Lance Stroll ended his recent slump by scoring points in the United States Grand Prix.
Arriving in Austin, Stroll was on a barren run of not scoring a single point since the summer break, prompting his father, Lawrence, to defend his form in the media.
While Aston Martin’s struggles earlier in the weekend resigned Stroll to a fourth consecutive Q1 exit on Friday, Stroll charged from a pit lane start to come home ninth.
The Canadian was promoted two places to seventh post-race when both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified for excessive plank wear on their cars.
Stroll was pleased with his recovery drive, acknowledging that it was the finest day he had enjoyed in Formula 1 “in a long time”.
“It was a much better day today than we’ve had in a long time, so it was nice for us, starting from the pit lane to finishing in the points is always hard to do and we did it today so that was very positive.”
Alonso had accompanied Stroll in being withdrawn from the starting grid after Aston Martin elected to revert the Spaniard to the pre-Austin specification on his AMR23.
The two-time F1 champion was running one place ahead of Stroll when floor damage forced him to retire, but Alonso admitted his content at his team-mate’s showing.
“Happy for him, because he deserved to have better weekends,” Alonso addressed.
“Even this weekend he did a very good race today, but tough sessions yesterday and not many laps again in FP1. Finally some good news and hopefully we keep going in Mexico.”
Lance Stroll (CDN) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23. 22.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 19, United States Grand Prix, Austin, Texas, USA, Race Day.
Meanwhile, Krack credited Stroll for driving a “very strong” race, adding that he could have pipped Pierre Gasly for what transpired to be sixth place with an additional lap.
Asked how important Sunday was for Stroll’s confidence, Krack said: “Yes absolutely, I’m really happy for Lance, I’m really, really happy and I think the team as well and I think we all wish him to have a result to come from the pit lane and just behind Gasly.
“I think, I think one lap more we would have been able to pass [the Alpine driver]. But all in all, I think he drove a very strong race, all the stints, all the tyres. He was just, you know, he was really on it, clean overtakes. So yeah, I’m really happy about it.”
Pressed on what he needs to do to ensure he can deliver that level consistently, the Aston Martin chief replied: “We need to provide him with the tool to do it because you see if we do, the performance is there.”
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