Lance Stroll was beaming after his Turn 1 move on Valtteri Bottas at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Racing Point driver made a brilliant start from fifth on the grid, soon passing teammate Sergio Perez, and then simply showed more desire as he elbowed his way past the Mercedes at the first corner for third.
Ultimately, his stay in the podium places wouldn’t last, as Bottas DRSed he way back ahead at the start of Lap 5, but it was another moment where the Canadian proved he does have the ability to race at the front in Formula 1.
“That really made my race!” he said after a five-second penalty for Perez saw him reclaim fourth.
“I had a great launch off the line and managed to get Sergio and the Mercedes, Bottas. I saw a gap on the inside, went for it and that really set me up for a great race.
“I was kind of pulling up alongside him and from there I had to just keep it pinned,” Stroll explained.
“I did it for the TV time, I was like ‘I’m not sitting here in fourth, let’s get past the Mercedes for a few laps, it’ll feel good’.
“It’s a bit of a lottery always braking on the inside there, no one goes there. I was just tapping the brake pedal, feeding it in but I had enough grip to stick it.
“Before the start you always kind of envision in your mind where you’re going to end up, and I assumed if I’d get a good launch, Max [Verstappen] would get a good launch, I’d be braking on the outside to Turn 1.
“And then I found myself on the inside of Max and the Mercedes. I didn’t plan on that but I’m glad I made it stick and from there it was a great race. Fourth is the maximum we could have done today.”
The 21-year-old’s overtake didn’t go unnoticed with F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn among those to praise him.
“Lance Stroll delivered a very impressive performance.
“His overtake on Bottas at the start was audacious and brave and he had the speed to close the gap to Perez in the closing stages and get within five seconds to inch ahead of him when the Mexican’s time penalty was applied for ignoring blue flags.”
Also Read:
- Bottas feels 2020 title hopes ‘drifting away’ after P3 in Barcelona
- Bottas criticised for lack of aggression against Hamilton: ‘Keep your foot in!’
- Stroll on if Dad dropped him from Racing Point: ‘It’s just business’
But for the plaudits Stroll got, Bottas did take some heat from his Mercedes predecessor for allowing Lance the chance to slide through.
“Valtteri will be very, very disappointed with that,” Nico Rosberg said analysing the start on Sky Sports.
“We really saw every little weakness in his armoury out there today. That’s in wheel-to-wheel racing, just lacking a little bit of aggressivity, which we saw at the start and so he fell back behind Stroll.
“Just opening the door on the inside and Stroll went right through. Then in the race pace afterwards.
“Valtteri’s body language was really resigned [in the post-race interviews].”
