Stroll in rant at stewards over Qatar penalties: "They don't understand what F1 is"

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll has taken issue with the policing of track limits during the Qatar Grand Prix.

Track limits were highlighted as an issue ahead of the weekend but the problem was exacerbated on Saturday as the boundaries through Turns 12 to 14 at the Lusail International Circuit were redefined due to concerns over the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres over the 'pyramid' kerbs.

The circuit was made narrower in that section to stop drivers mounting the kerbs, but a number of drivers still fell foul of track limits in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

Stroll was handed two five-second time penalties by the chequered flag on Sunday, with his last punishment dropping him out of the points.

However, Stroll was left unhappy by the stewards' attitude towards enforcing penalties due to the difficult conditions drivers were subject to during the race.

The Canadian was one of a number of drivers that were left seeking medical attention at the end of the 57-lap event as intense heat took its toll.

Stroll's attack

Stroll revealed after the Grand Prix that he was passing out during the final 20 laps, whileWilliams' Logan Sargeant was forced to retire due to feeling so unwell.

“It’s a joke that they're giving penalties for this,” he said. “They don't understand what Formula 1 is these days.

“What they're putting us through, we're given these track limit penalties and they're making the track narrower and they’re saying we can’t drive over the kerbs because the tyres are failing if we do.

“The track limit thing is something that just has to be addressed because we've seen in Austria, we've seen this weekend, people getting penalties.

“It's not like we're gaining an advantage when we're going off the track by three millimetres, 60 laps of concentration in 65-70 degree temperatures in the car with five, six and a half Gs.

“That's the frustrating part. We hustled out there, I felt like we drove a good race to finish ninth on the road and then [dropped to] 11th [outside] the points with two penalties.

“It's a really frustrating result to not get anything out of it.”