Aston Martin question F1 stewards after “very quick verdict” for Lance Stroll incident
Aston Martin were unhappy with how quick the stewards handed Lance Stroll a penalty in China.
Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has questioned F1’s stewards for handing Lance Stroll a 10-second time penalty for an incident in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Stroll was hit with a 10-second penalty after he drove into the back of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo under the Safety Car.
The contact completely damaged Ricciardo’s rear diffuser, effectively ruining his race, while Stroll was forced into the pit lane for a new front wing.
It also resulted in damage to Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, but he was able to continue.
After the race, Stroll blamed it on a “really odd concertina effect”, with his response leaving Ricciardo irate.
Krack feels like the stewards acted too hastily in giving Stroll a penalty, blaming it on a “chain reaction”.
“A very, very quick verdict today without really understanding. I thought it was very, very fast and very harsh, very quick decision," Krack said in China.
“I think it was a chain reaction at the end of the day. You saw Fernando locking and another car behind and I think everybody was a little bit caught out there.
“I would have liked that this would have been looked at in a little bit more detailed way.
“We tried to discuss it but the verdict was very quickly that Lance was to blame, and he got a 10-second penalty, additional to the front wing damage.”
Krack believes what happened on Lap 27 is simply what can occur under a Safety Car, citing the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix where a number of cars crashed out during a restart at Mugello.
"These situations are created in the front," Krack added. "Now, you can always say, you need to be more careful.
"But on the other hand if you're too careful, and you have the restart and you lose more than one car length - everybody says 'are you asleep?'
"Things like that happen at different tracks. You remember the incident we had in Mugello, where there were a lot of cars involved.
"This is always the erratic movement that happens on a safety car restart. And we have some of these every year and it will continue to be."
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