Lance Stroll admits targeting 'MAGICAL' lap amid heavy crash

Stroll crasht hard in Q1 — Photo: © LAT Images

Singapore Grand Prix

Stroll admits targeting 'MAGICAL' lap amid heavy crash

The Canadian had a huge shunt on the final corner of his flying lap

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 16 September 2023 23:42

Lance Stroll has said that a mixture of bad tyre preparation and a lack of downforce due to another car being in front of him led to his huge crash which saw him out of qualifying in Q1 at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Canadian driver was attempting to make it out of Q1 having been caught down in 20th after being impeded on his first flying lap, but pushed too hard and sent the car hurtling into the barriers.

That saw an early end to Q1, and a delayed start to Q2 as the red flag was brought out to try and clear the huge amount of debris left on the track.

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Thankfully, Stroll was ok, but the circumstances in which he was left needing a brilliant lap just to make it out of the first session has left him feeling frustrated.

“I think we were pretty slow. Just with the outlaps being really bad with a lot of traffic and stuff," he told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

"We didn’t have any temperature in the tyres throughout the whole of Q1, so I started the lap two seconds behind a car in front of me. I think it was the Alpine, so we were losing a lot of downforce and also bad tyre preparation.

"I saw that we weren't really going through to Q2in the last couple corners so I really pushed in the last corner to try and make up some time to see if something magical could happen and find some time to go through with. Just didn’t stick and that was it."

Qualifying marred by frustrating impeding instances

Verstappen was investigated for three separate offences during qualifying

Many drivers were left feeling as though they were left hard done by some sneaky tactics from other drivers.

In what Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed was a disregard for the so-called 'gentlemen's agreement', many cars were seen jostling for position to try to get the best start to their flying laps, and also going very slowly on the racing line at times.

The stewards have been investigating a number of drivers for impeding others, including Red Bull's Max Verstappen who couldn't make it out of Q2.

Stroll himself was affected by this on his first flying lap, when Logan Sargeant blocked his path, meaning he had to put his first time on the board on a set of used soft tyres.

This may explain why he was left down in 20th position, and needing a miracle lap to get out of the session.

“Fully got impeded while I was pushing," he continued.

"A lot [it affected me], because then I had to abort my first lap of the first run and then I went around again and then the tyres are really just good for one lap around here, so then I didn’t get the same kind of grip level for the second lap.

"I had to do it on older tyres, because he [Sargeant] kind of stayed. It was weird, he like pushing to try and get back in the pits, but he was like kind of right in front of me. So I was still pushing thinking he was going to get out of the way up until like halfway through the lap and then I realised he just wasn’t getting out of the way, it really affected my session."