Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez were again the big-name losers during qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix. Aston Martin driver Stroll was fired up following his latest struggles, throwing his steering wheel from the AMR23 in frustration before appearing to push his trainer at the back of the garage. The Canadian is under pressure following four consecutive Q1 eliminations and has been unable to click with his machinery since the summer break, with no points to show for his efforts. Perez, however, is in the dominant car on the grid yet slipped to another Q2 elimination after seeing a lap time deleted late in the session. The Mexican will start from 13th on the grid as teammate Verstappen likely wraps up a third Drivers' title.
Such have been the duo's difficulties across the season, an alarming statistic shows that they have reached Q3 on 16 occasions between each other. That is in stark contrast to two-time World Champion Alonso - Stroll's teammate - who has been in the top 10 in qualifying 17 times alone. Despite an initially pointed TV interview, Stroll would eventually add more meat to the bone on his dismal showing at the Lusail International Circuit. “My first lap was deleted due to track limits and I had to abort my second due to traffic, so I had a big job to do for my final run," he said. “The car felt okay, but we just didn’t have the pace. We’ve got another opportunity to go again and learn what we can ahead of the Sprint events.”
Most read
