Lance Stroll admits fixing his problems in qualifying will be crucial to improving his results in 2020.
The Canadian only made it out of Q1 seven times this season and had been on a run of 14 straight early eliminations before finally breaking it at the German GP in July.
His race pace, however, has been a different story as he scored five top 10’s across the year and knows that can only increase with better starting positions.
“From my end, I’ve got to just keep working on a few things,” Stroll told Crash.net.
“I think Saturday has been my biggest weakness this year, just a few mistakes in qualifying and stuff, it just put me on the back foot for Sundays, and going into next year that’s an area I want to work on.
“I think there’s been a bit of bad luck here and there through the second half of the season, we haven’t managed to score the points that we wanted to score.
“In the first half, I think we were strong, we scored our fair share of points, but the second half we’ve had a few hits to the chin which cost us some points.”
After three years in F1, Stroll still hasn’t done much to convince his critics that he’s little more than a mediocre driver backed up by his father’s wealth.
Indeed, his record versus Racing Point teammate Sergio Perez saw him out-qualified 18-3 and outscored 52-21 in the championship.
“He beat me most of the time this year, so that’s something I’ve got to work on,” the 21-year-old admitted.
“I think experience too, he’s been with the team a long time, so I have a different driving style, different approach, which all drivers have.
“In order to maximise my driving style and approach, there are some things I think we have to keep working on and come back next year and do better. That’s really what I’m looking forward to.”
Also Read:
- Stroll: New Perez deal good for me and for Racing Point
- Stroll can ‘leap ahead’ of Perez with experience, says Racing Point
Stroll though does think, he’s slowly reaching the position of being able to optimise his performance better.
“Yeah, I think it’s experience and it’s also applying yourself in the right way,” he explained.
“It’s work ethic, understanding where the weakness is, and what kind of corners, and how to balance the car, set up the car in order to maximise your driving style. I think that does come with experience.
“I’ve been with the team one year, and I feel like a lot of the time when I walk away from the weekend, and I reflect on Saturdays, there are things I would have done differently and could have done different in order to do it better, and that’s what makes it exciting coming back for a second season.”