Lance Stroll admits Aston Martin 'LUCKED OUT' in mad Melbourne finish

Lance Stroll

Stroll admits Aston Martin 'LUCKED OUT' in mad Melbourne finish

The team in green narrowly avoided a double catastrophe Down Under

Jay Winter

Wednesday 5 April 2023 06:53

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Lance Stroll believes Aston Martin "lucked out" right at the death of a chaotic Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

It was not a good lap for the team in green after the second restart at Albert Park, with Fernando Alonso being tagged and spun around by Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz into turn one before Stroll himself locked up into turn three, sending him deep into the gravel trap.

Fortunately for the Silverstone-based team, another red flag was brought out due to the sheer amount of carnage which had ensued. As race leader Max Verstappen had not completed the first sector, the third restart took place with the initial grid order minus those cars unable to continue. A very lucky break for Alonso and Stroll.

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Speaking after the race the latter laughed off the error which could have cost his team significant championship points.

"Yeah, I mean, it was a funny race. I think we got away with some stuff going wrong at the end," he said.

“I had my big lock-up, and I was kind of running in third, and then I went off the track just with the tyres being super cold, and Fernando got hit and spun."

'We lucked out' – Stroll

Without the third red flag, Aston Martin could have finished the Australian Grand Prix with no points

“Then you know, we lucked out with the timing of the red flags, so yeah… [we’ll] take it, some good points.”

When quizzed on whether there was any tension as confusion reigned ahead of that final restart, Stroll added: “For sure. Tension, frustration… I didn’t know if I just threw away the podium kind of thing. Yeah, anyways, [we’ll] take it.”

Coming away with P3 and P4 translated to 27 points for the Mercedes customer team, leaving them nine points ahead of the Silver Arrows in the early 2023 constructors' standings.