Racing Point mechanic ok after Stroll impact

A monosyllabic Lance Stroll made Kimi Raikkonen seem talkative when saying he could take no positives from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Stroll has suffered a dreadful time since finishing third in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He crashed out at Mugello and Sochi, missed the Nurburgring due to illness and then was involved in another collision with Lando Norris that led to his retirement from the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer had predicted the Canadian driver would be back to his best at Imola, but that was far from the case as he lost a part of his front wing in first-lap contact with Esteban Ocon after starting P15, prompting an early pit-stop.

Never a factor thereafter, Stroll ended up finishing 13th after a second pit-stop under the Safety Car when, citing cold brakes as the reason, he overshot his box markings and knocked over a member of the crew who fortunately was uninjured.

Asked after the race, during his interview with the Formula 1 website, when he will enjoy a change of luck, Stroll replied: “I don’t know, try the next one.”

Apart from that, all he could offer were the words “very frustrating”, “cold brakes” in relation to the pit incident and “not really, no” when asked if he could take any positives from the race.

Get your hands on the official Racing Point 2020 collection via the Formula 1 store 

🤕 Most importantly today, we're pleased to report our mechanic who took a tumble is back on his feet after being checked out by our medics.

They're made of tough stuff 💪#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/R5cywyWLlU

— BWT Racing Point F1 Team (@RacingPointF1) November 1, 2020

Fortunately, it appears Stroll was a little more forthcoming when speaking to the team for their post-race report.

“It was a really difficult day out there,” said the 22-year-old, who had scored seven consecutive points finishes before his current desperate run.

“The contact on the first lap really ruined my race and I had significant damage to the front wing. It’s a shame as I was able to make up a couple of places at the start.

“After the contact, we came in at the end of the first lap and switched to the hard tyre, but we knew that without a really disrupted race it would be tough to make up many places because it’s so hard to overtake here.

“At the final pit-stop, I had really cold brakes and that meant I overshot the pit box. I’m really glad to hear my mechanic is okay – that’s the most important thing.

“There’s not a lot of positives to take from today, so onwards and upwards now. I’ll work hard to turn the corner in Turkey.”

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