Stroll’s Q1 exit shows strategy was “too aggressive”

In brief

Aston Martin “too aggressive” on tyre strategy

Stroll dropped out in Q1 after running a single set of soft tyres through the session in a bid to save a set for Q2. Krack said his driver’s elimination in 18th place shows his team took too great a risk.

“We were too aggressive with our tyre strategy in Q1, choosing to keep both drivers on used softs for their second runs,” he said. “It was a marginal call, and it didn’t work out.

“The track ramped up and drivers on fresh rubber found a lot of lap time. It meant that Lance finished the session an unrepresentative 18th overall. If we’d done a better job, he would have comfortably made it into the next two sessions. We’ll learn from that for the future.”

Piastri has “future world champion” potential – Brown

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says rookie Oscar Piastri has demonstrated over the first four rounds of his F1 career that he has enough potential to develop into a future world champion.

“We’re very impressed with him,” said Brown. “He’s very focused. He’s not really made certainly not any big mistakes. Typical exploring the limits, so the odd lock of a wheel here and there.

“He’s never been to Miami, he’s not been to all these races, so early indications are we’ve got a future world champion on our hands. We just have to work to give him a faster car now.”

Rowland avoids broken hand in Mortara clash

Formula E driver Oliver Rowland avoided a serious injury to his hand after a clash with Edoardo Mortara led to his retirement from yesterday’s Monaco Eprix.

The Mahindra driver was running 11th behind the two Maseratis on the sixth lap of the race when he ran into the back of Mortara’s car under braking for the chicane. Although Rowland continued to drive for more than 10 more laps, he eventually retired. In a post on social media, Mahindra confirmed that he had pulled out of the race “due to an injury to his hand”.

“After being checked by the medical team at the track, he was taken to the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco for an X-Ray,” the team stated. “The results of the X-Ray showed that thankfully there were no broken bones, just bruising and some swelling. Oliver is in good spirits and looks forward to the next round in Jakarta.”