Lance Stroll was lucky to avoid disqualification from qualifying on Saturday at the Monaco Grand Prix after the Canadian missed the weighbridge during Q2, a session he was ultimately eliminated in.
Not for the first time this season, Stroll struggled to match veteran team-mate Fernando Alonso, who secured a front row start for Sunday’s race at the Circuit de Monaco.
Stroll could only salvage a disappointing 14th although, he could’ve very easily been pushed to the back of the grid.
The Aston Martin driver was called into the weighbridge during Q2 when he entered the pits for fresh tyres; however, the 24-year-old missed the sign pointing him into the weighbridge, with him having continued back to his garage.
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Due to the technical infringement of having missed the weighbridge, Stroll faced potential disqualification from qualifying, only for the FIA to reveal that he wouldn’t be penalised.
After analysing footage of the incident, the stewards deemed that the driver wasn’t at fault for missing the weighbridge, resulting in no further action.
Whilst he would’ve presumably been pleased to escape disqualification from the session, Stroll wasn’t happy with how his Saturday afternoon went at the iconic venue.
“Just everything really went wrong,” Stroll said after qualifying, as reported by the Express.co.uk.
“Didn’t get the tyres prepared properly, we got called to the weighbridge. A lot of things just went wrong. I missed turn 18 – I lost half a second there. Just everything went wrong.
“The potential was there, we were like third in Q1 and I was feeling good in the car and it just all went downhill in Q2. So I don’t know what happened.”
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The Canadian went on to explain how he missed the weighbridge and what his expectations are for Sunday’s race, which is more often than not a procession.
“Just a miss and a push back,” Stroll explained when asked about the incident. “So nothing major.
“I mean, here, it’s going to be tough tomorrow. It’s going to be about maybe going long, or pitting early and undercutting – one or the other. We’ll see. Hopefully a bit of rain mixes things up and we’ll see what we can do.”