Unlike Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) could not get angry on the radio after the finish of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. And for good reason, it stopped working on the first lap of the race in the City of Vice. The Canadian, deprived of any means of communication with his team, therefore found himself navigating blindly during the 50 loops.
It was impossible for his engineer to send him information on the wear of his tires or when to return to the pits. This problem cost the driver a lot of time when he wanted to change his tires since the team was not ready to accommodate him.
« No radio the whole race, I lost the radio on the first lap so I was trying to give them an indication that I was coming but it didn't go right which ended my race , Stroll said. We had planned to stay a little longer on the medium tires at the start of the race, but I felt they were degrading quickly and wanted to switch to the hard tires. I didn't manage to get this message across to the pit wall. This meant that when I came in the team was not prepared for the stop and it cost us around 20 seconds. »
With Stroll out of the race for points, it was on Fernando Alonso's shoulders that the hopes of finishing in the top ten rested. Starting 16th, the Spaniard was overtaken at the end of the race by Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) to gain tenth place. “ We were in the points until three or four laps from the end, it's a shame, admitted Alonso after the finish. We had a very good race from the back, the pace was good, the car was better than in qualifying. I can't wait to be in Qatar to try to get my revenge. There are positives to take from this race, the car was competitive and we were in the running, so it was a good way to end the weekend. »
« Lhe best session of the weekend was the race, free practice and qualifying, added the double world champion. We were a bit lost in the settings and the grid level, but today (Saturday) the car was better – maybe the fuel load sorted things out. We approach the next two races with a little more optimism. »
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