Lance Stroll finished 12th for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team in a challenging 2022 Australian Grand Prix.
Lance spent the late stages of the race around Albert Park defending a top 10 place from a train of cars but fell narrowly short of the points.
Lance
Lance and the team took advantage of a disrupted start to the Grand Prix with a succession of pitstops to set the Canadian up for long stints on the Hard tyres.
Having started on the most durable and race-favoured compound, an incident for Carlos Sainz Jr and the subsequent Safety Car allowed Lance to switch to a set of Medium tyres on lap three of 58.
A stop two laps later allowed him to switch back to Hards, meaning he had made the mandatory switch to a different compound and, as a result, could stay on the same sets to the end.
Running off strategy, Lance was able to progressively climb up the field to the fringes of the top 10 at mid-distance, before another Safety Car was called for team-mate Sebastian's crash.
Australian Grand Prix
Go inside the story of our 2022 Australian Grand Prix and hear from Lance, Sebastian and Team Principal Mike Krack. Discover the data underpinning our races and more in our comprehensive race report.
Restarting in 12th, a Virtual Safety Car after Max Verstappen's stoppage meant rivals took the chance to make a pitstop, lifting Lance into ninth.
Lance pushed hard to remain inside the top 10 but a five-second time penalty for weaving meant his chance of points was all but over even if he had remained in the top 10.
"I caught Valtteri [Bottas] after the Virtual Safety Car and made up a place so it was frustrating to receive a penalty for weaving," added Lance.
We did not quite have the pace for points today.
Not to be deterred, Lance battled strongly across the final laps, crossing the line in 12th, and lapping strongly in the late stages to prevent losing any places as a result of the penalty.
"We did not quite have the pace for points today, although we were able to defend a position inside the top 10 for a while late on," said Lance.
"We will keep our heads up and dig deep to try to extract more from the car in the races to come."
Sebastian
Sebastian endured a difficult Australian Grand Prix, ultimately retiring after a crash between Turns Four and Five.
The German had begun to cycle through the field after starting the race on the alternate strategy of the Hard compound, rising towards the fringes of the top 10 as his rivals cycled through their first stops.
We are continuing to search for solutions.
But on lap 23, Sebastian lost control of his AMR22 and made contact with the inside wall, leading to his retirement from the race.
"My lack of race experience with this car did not help today," said Sebastian.
"I was pushing a little too hard and I lost the car on the kerbs at Turn Four and could not prevent the impact, which is very frustrating.
"Every lap in race conditions counts because this was my first time racing this car, so it is a shame not to have completed the race.
"We know that the car is challenging, but we are continuing to search for solutions to add more performance.
"Things did not go our way this week, but it is time to move on and I am confident that we can come back stronger at Imola."
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