Lance Stroll lost for words after 'intense' race to third in Baku
Lance Stroll said he was “lost for words” after his amazing third place finish in Azerbaijan in only his eighth F1 start.
Stroll avoided trouble all around him and rode his luck through the safety car periods to run fourth after the red flag, moving up to second when Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel had to pit. He kept his head while being chased down by Valtteri Bottas, only to lose out right at the end when the Finn used DRS to push him down to third – by just 0.105s.
“I’m a bit lost for words,” said Stroll. “It was such an intense race. A crazy race. So much happened. The red flag, hopping out of the car then having to get back into the car and having to reset and everything. It just all happened so quickly, but I think today what we did well was just stay out of trouble. We let some of the other drivers make mistakes, and took it to the end. Just lost out to Valtteri in the end. He came pretty quick towards the last couple of laps.
“Still extremely happy with the result today. I can’t really describe how I feel, it’s beyond amazing. Yesterday was such a great day already and starting to get back to grips with the car. I had a couple of races where Saturdays didn’t go too well, and then we got back into Q3 since China yesterday and that was really a breakthrough for me. Today to come away with a podium is absolutely amazing.”
Stroll said he wasn’t bothered about answering the critics.
“I don’t think I proved a point. I don’t listen to that stuff. It’s just noise. It was there last year when I had a perfect year, so this year when I had some tough times, it’s probably still going to be there. It’s just people talking. I’m just happy for myself, happy for my team, my friends, family. Everyone who’s in it with me. That’s all that matters. The rest is all just noise in the background and I don’t really care for it.”
