Lance Stroll has been blamed by the Formula 1 community for what was perhaps the biggest crash the sport has ever experienced at the Circuit of the Americas, where Fernando Alonso’s car was made to wheelie at ridiculous speeds.
Following a Safety Car restart after Valtteri Bottas beached his Alfa Romeo at Turn 19, Stroll went into Lap 22 ahead of his 2023 team-mate.
The Canadian remained ahead of Alonso as they went down the main straight, whilst Alonso rapidly closed on the Aston Martin driver due to the incredible slipstream generated.
As Alonso moved to the inside of Stroll due to the speed difference, Stroll also moved left, resulting in Alonso going up the back of the 23-year-old.
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What then occurred was a near-replica of Mark Webber’s horrifying crash at the 2010 European Grand Prix, where he hit the back of Heikki Kovalainen and flipped into the air.
Thankfully, Alonso didn’t flip over, but did perform a high-speed wheelie before hitting the barrier as his front-wheels touched back onto the circuit.
Whilst Alonso was regathering control of his car on the left-hand side of the circuit, Stroll was spinning down the middle of it, before his AMR22 peeled to the left of the straight, where he retired.
The entirety of Stroll’s rear was destroyed, with Formula 1’s Twitter account posting photos of the moment the pair collided.
It is extremely difficult to find people who blame Alonso rather than Stroll, with the FIA having also concluded that the Canadian was at fault.
Stroll was awarded a three-place grid penalty for next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, as well as two penalty points.
Prior to being summoned to the stewards, Stroll explained that he left “plenty of room”, and that Alonso could’ve gone “more to the left”.
“I mean, I definitely moved late, but there was a big difference in speed,” Stroll told reporters after the race.
“I was judging more or less, kind of picking where he was behind me. But it’s not like I hit him on the side of his car. The impact is still his front wing to the rear of my car.
“I gave him plenty of room on the left of the track, so it’s not like I squeezed him or anything like that against a wall. He could have moved earlier and went more to the left. He didn’t have to get so close to me either.
“So, there’s a lot of different ways you could look at the incident.
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“It was a shame. It was close wheel to wheel racing and unfortunately just made contact.”
The accident was so terrifying that some on social media have called for Stroll to be awarded with a race ban, for causing what could’ve so easily been a deadly collision.
Stroll was having a brilliant weekend up until the crash, where he had even been running third during the opening laps of the record-breaking Grand Prix.