Lance Stroll has revealed he was battling the problem which put him out of the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for "six or seven laps" before his DNF. Starting fifth, Stroll passed Carlos Sainz on the opening lap with a brave move around the outside of Turn 13, before settling into the race. As the mandatory pitstops approached, Ferrari called Sainz in, but he did not pit, Stroll instead coming in for the Hard tyres. However, warm-up on the white-walled rubber was tricky with the overcut proving beneficial with Sainz and then Charles Leclerc both using this tactic to leapfrog the Aston Martin. On Lap 18, Stroll was told to stop the AMR23 with an engine problem, robbing him any chance of adding to Fernando Alonso's eventual third place finish.
Stroll battling problem
"It was fun on the first lap getting past Sainz, get position in P4 and I was feeling good in the car, but I was losing power for six or seven laps," the Canadian explained to media, including RacingNews365. "It was getting worse and worse every lap and then our race just started to die from there and then it was game over." The deployment of the Safety Car for Stroll's stoppage was questioned as the Aston was off the track and in a marshal post, but the FIA felt this was the safest option as the initial camera angles available created doubt as to where the car had actually stopped. "There was a crane in front of me, so it wasn't like it was completely off the track, I still had a bit of the car exposed," he added. "To be honest, I didn't really see where I was on the track, so I don't know. "For sure there are still a lot of positives to take from the weekend, and we've just got to go to Melbourne now."
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