Lance Stroll blamed his brakes for his off on the
formation lap in Brazil, but it was his trip into the gravel that had Jarno
Opmeer saying he’s “not someone you’d expect” in F1.
Although Stroll has spent
eight years racing in Formula 1, the Canadian has not been able to shrug off
his pay driver tag especially as he races for a team owned by his father.
Lance Stroll is ‘not a bad driver, but not a superstar’
But while it hasn’t always been a fair assessment of his
ability given he has three podiums and a pole position, the 26-year-old’s
antics in Brazil raised eyebrows when he went off on the formation lap of the
Brazilian Grand Prix.
He blamed his newly-repaired AMR24’s brakes, Stroll
having been one of five drivers to crash in Sunday morning’s qualifying with
his team-mate Fernando Alonso also on the list.
“As soon as I touched the brake I just had a huge rear
lock and then I was a passenger from there,” the Canadian explained.
“I’ve never felt that in the car, so maybe there was a
brake failure problem and we have to look into it.”
He added: “For sure in a race like this anything’s
possible, so to be out on Lap 1 really sucks – but we have to look into what
happened.”
That though wasn’t the biggest issue, it
was what happened next.
Although Stroll’s Aston Martin came to a halt on asphalt
run-off, a strip located between two gravel traps, the Canadian promptly threw
a U-turn and tried to make his way back onto the track through one of the
sodden gravel traps. He did that instead of using the asphalt access road
surrounding the gravel.
His car became beached and his race was over.
Opmeer, who raced against Stroll in the CIK-FIA European
Championship back in 2013, says the 26-year-old can be a “pancake” at times.
“I’ve karted against him,” Opmeer, who is now a Red Bull
sim diver told Ziggo Sport. “He wasn’t a bad driver, but not a superstar.
Not someone you’d expect in Formula 1.
“He’s always had those moments where he’s incredibly good for two or three races a year. The rest of the time he’s just a pancake really.”
