Mike Krack, Aston Martin Formula 1 team principal, believes stewards decision to penalize Lance Stroll is “very harsh”. The Canadian driver received penalty for his contact with Daniel Ricciardo in Chinese Grand Prix.
Stroll and Ricciardo came into contact under the safety car as the field condensed for a restart at lap 27.
Stroll cost Ricciardo the race who had to retire because of the damage done to his RB car. Additionally, Oscar Piastri in McLaren also sustain damage but not to an extent of retirement.
The steward investigated the incident and found Stroll at fault with a 10 second penalty. Moreover, they handed two penalty points which felt “a joke” to the driver.
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Krack also agrees to his Canadian driver and questions the verdict which they issued soon after the crash.
“A very, very quick verdict without really understanding… I thought it was very, very fast and very harsh, very quick decision,” Krack commented on the incident.
“I think it was a chain reaction at the end of the day. You saw Fernando [Alonso] locking and another car behind and I think everybody was a little bit caught out there.
“I would have liked that this would have been looked at in a little bit more detailed way. We tried to discuss it, but the verdict was very quickly that Lance was to blame. And he got a 10-second penalty, additional to the front wing damage.”
The Honey Badger, Ricciardo, expressed his frustration with Aston Martin driver. He claims the Canadian driver remained more focused on his tail rather than the front.
“These situations are created in the front,” Krack responded. “Now, you can always say, you need to be more careful.
“But, on the other hand, if you’re too careful, and you have the restart and you lose more than one car length – everybody says ‘are you asleep?’
“Things like that happen at different tracks. You remember the incident we had in Mugello [at the 2020 Tuscan GP], where there were a lot of cars involved.
“This is always the erratic movement that happens on a safety car restart. And we have some of these every year and will continue to.”
