Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said Lance Stroll’s achievement in coming from 16th on the grid to finish in the points should not be underestimated.
While Fernando Alonso started and finished second in the team’s other car, Stroll qualified 13th and was moved back three places on the grid for impeding Esteban Ocon. However he climbed into the points on race day.
Krack admitted Stroll “struggled with grip” in the rain-hit qualifying session on Saturday, “and if you struggle like that and you don’t have the confidence then it is very difficult.”
However Krack said Stroll “drove really well” to salvage two points on Sunday. “We took him out of traffic and when he was out of traffic, he managed the lap times of the front runners on the hard,” he said. “But if you are in these DRS trains it’s really hard.
“To come from 16th to ninth I think it’s a great achievement. Now, on paper, it looks only ninth and your team mate finishes second and you think it’s not a good performance. But when you see where you come from, I think it was very good.
“So I think he will take the positives from here and with the races to come we know he’s very strong in high-speed circuits and we will have a couple of such circuits to come so I’m confident that we can score with both.”
Krack said Stroll’s result was particularly impressive as he lost time when the Safety Car was deployed shortly after he made his first pit stop.
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“I think he was quite happy at the end, especially with the misfortune of the Safety Car coming just in the lap after he had stopped, which put him back actually in a couple of positions,” said Krack.
“At the end of the day there’s no point of lamenting or complaining about his situation. This is how racing goes and you have to do the best out of each situation. He did well, I’m really happy for his home race after yesterday to have such a good recovery.”
Stroll approached the final corner of the race in 11th place, but overtook Valtteri Bottas on the way out of it, beating the Alfa Romeo to the line by just three-hundredths of a second. The Aston Martin driver gained another place from Lando Norris who had a penalty.
“We gave it everything on the last straight, I can tell you,” said Krack. “It was good because first of all Fernando was already through and then to have this sprint out of the last corner and then if it goes for you, it was a bit like Sebastian [Vettel] in Suzuka last year with Fernando. So credit to our power train that we had more juice at the end because our tyres were older.”
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