Lance Stroll pre-race US GP blunder ends with amusing stewards’ decision

Lance Stroll’s pre-race blunder at the Circuit of the Americas has been investigated by the stewards, with a verdict reached.

Stroll started the United States Grand Prix having already come to the attention of the stewards, separate from the reasoning for his pitlane start.

Both Aston Martin drivers broke parc ferme conditions after Saturday’s Sprint race, having struggled for pace throughout Friday and Saturday – the resulting setup changes meant Stroll and Fernando Alonso were forced to start the race from the pits.

Lance Stroll gets the race stewards’ attention

Heading out for his reconnaissance laps ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Stroll appeared to forget that he was starting the race from the pits and approached the back of the dummy grid to switch off his car.

Realising the error, Aston Martin came out to the grid to pick up his car, finding a gap in the pit wall through which to push Stroll back through.

The matter was earmarked by the stewards for a post-race investigation, with the Canadian driver heading along to their office after the Grand Prix, having been summoned on the grounds of an alleged breach of Article 44 of the FIA Sporting Regulations – this article dealing with the procedure for a race start.

However, despite being summoned on such a wide-ranging article, the rules don’t actually have any wording expressly saying anything Stroll had done was against the rules – leading the stewards to admit that there were no grounds on which to hand out a penalty for a ‘far from ideal’ scenario.

“The Stewards reviewed video evidence,” read the verdict.

“After completing his reconnaissance laps, the driver of Car 18 [Stroll] did not proceed to the pit lane directly, but missed the pit entry and continued on track until he arrived at the end of the starting grid despite being required to start the race from the pit lane.

“The car was then pushed back to the pits by the team on skates.

“The Stewards note that the scenario caused by the incident was far from ideal.

“However, having reviewed the matter in detail, although the established process was not followed, no breach of any regulation was evident.”

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Stroll went on to finish in ninth place, boosted to seventh following disqualifications for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, marking his first points finish since the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break.

“Finishing ninth after starting from last in the pitlane is a positive result after a tough couple of days here at COTA,” he said.

“It’s good to be back in the points after some difficult races. The set-up changes we made to optimise the performance have definitely put us in the right direction; we were much more competitive today.

“I had good grip in the corners, especially once we fitted the Medium compound, and I was able to make a few good overtakes going into Turn 12. We’ll be working hard to take this momentum into Mexico next week.”

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