Not the first time in recent weeks, Lance Stroll was a man of very few words after qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix, where he was dumped out in Q1 yet again.
Stroll’s 2023 misery continued on Saturday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as he once again failed to get his AMR23 out of the first part of qualifying.
The Canadian could only salvage 18th on the grid and was two-tenths off a spot in Q2, something his team-mate achieved.
Stroll was actually one of the only drivers to get a chance to improve on his lap in the closing minutes of the Q1, as Fernando Alonso brought out a lengthy yellow flag after spinning on the exit of Turn 3.
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He was unable to capitalise on the opportunity though, with him now having been eliminated in Q1 for five consecutive events.
It’s a shocking run of form for Stroll, who was quick to admit that he found qualifying in Mexico City very challenging.
“Yeah really tricky,” admitted Stroll, as reported by the official F1 website.
Sunday’s race will actually take place on Stroll’s 25th birthday, with him likely wanting nothing more than strong race to kickstart his celebrations.
Aston Martin’s current poor pace will make that a real struggle though, as a top-10 finish is widely expected to be an unrealistic target.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Stroll replied, when asked whether the team can push forwards in the race.
Just like at the United States Grand Prix, it appears that Aston Martin’s new upgrades aren’t working as expected.
Fernando Alonso even started from the pits at the Circuit of the Americas so that he could remove the new parts, which Stroll is using this weekend.
They are having a similar impact on the Silverstone-based team’s performance though, with Stroll being open when admitting that the upgrades don’t appear to be working.
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“It doesn’t look like it,” Stroll said.
Alonso didn’t fare much better than Stroll, as the two-time World Champion was eliminated in Q2.
The Spaniard could only salvage 13th on the grid for the race, although he is under investigation for driving too slowly in Q1.