Stroll blames “bad call” for Bahrain qualifying knockout

Lance Stroll blamed a “bad call” to run on old medium tyres on his Racing Point in Q2 as the reason for being knocked out early in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Canadian driver, who was on pole for the last race in Turkey, missed out on a place in the top 10 at the Bahrain International Circuit while his team-mate Sergio Perez was fifth, just five hundredths of a second off fourth place.

The second qualifying session was compromised by a brake failure on Carlos Sainz's McLaren on the approach to turn one and with a number of drivers on timed laps, forcing them to abort.

Once the session restarted it resulted in a number of drivers only conducting one hot lap, like Stroll who was sent out on a set of used mediums.

Speaking after the session, Stroll revealed: “We only had time for one run and it was on an old set of mediums.

"We used one [set] in Q1 then we did a lap before the red flag in Q2 and then we went back on the same set. The others were on a new set, so there was no chance to get close.

"But we had the wrong tyres on the car. It was no-one's fault. I think there was a miscommunication on timing. I thought we would have had time for two runs. Unfortunately, that was a bad call."

The mistake could prove costly for the team, as it is currently leading a very tight fight for third place in the constructors' championship.

Perez’s second-place finish in Turkey pushed Racing Point ahead in that third-place chase, but every point will count as McLaren sit just six points behind with Renault 13 points further back in fifth.

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