Lance Stroll blasted the Aston Martin car with an expletive-laden rant after the British Grand Prix, sparking calls for the driver to apologize to his team for his harsh comments.
Despite finishing seventh and scoring his first points since the Chinese Grand Prix, Stroll was clearly frustrated with his car’s performance.
“Crazy is an understatement. I mean, it’s the worst piece of sh*t I’ve ever driven in my life, to be honest. But it’s okay. Seventh,” Stroll told engineer Gary Gannon over team radio.
The 27-year-old Canadian had actually made impressive progress during the wet race at Silverstone. After starting way back in 18th place, he climbed all the way to third position at one point before sliding down to finish seventh.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher didn’t hold back when criticizing Stroll’s outburst.
“I have to say, this statement is very disappointing, and quite honestly, it’s a question of manners,” Schumacher said on Sky Deutschland’s Backstage Pitlane podcast.
He pointed out how Stroll’s comments affect the hard-working team members.
“The mechanics work there day in, day out so that the two can race – and then the boss’s son comes along and says: ‘Wonderful, and with such a crappy car.’ I have to say, that’s completely unacceptable. That’s an absolute no-go.”
Schumacher, now 50, didn’t stop there.
“It’s unspeakable and indicates a poor upbringing. I don’t know what movie hero he thinks he is, but such statements diminish his own results. Dear Lance, apologise to the team,” he concluded.
## How Lance Stroll Explained His Race Afterward
When facing the media after the race, Stroll was noticeably calmer than during his radio outburst.
“I think the result was good,” he told reporters, including GPblog. “I think we had a lot of degradation and couldn’t really fight with that kind of degradation.”
Stroll explained how tire wear made it nearly impossible to compete effectively.
“The Sauber had a lot more grip, so they had a much, much faster car. With the degradation we had, we couldn’t have gotten a better result.”
He described just how challenging the conditions became as the race progressed.
“Honestly, I was barely able to stay on the track at the end with the soft tyre because it was just completely grained.”
“And also the intermediate tyre – just losing 20 seconds of race time compared to the Sauber at one point in the race – just huge degradation. With that kind of deg, it’s going to be hard to fight.”
Despite his frustrations, Stroll did find some positives.
“But it’s a good result, good strategy calls. So that was good.”
The seventh-place finish at Aston Martin’s home race finally ends Stroll’s nine-race point drought.
It also moves him ahead of his highly accomplished teammate Fernando Alonso in the Drivers’ Standings.