Lance Stroll said he had “no answers” for why he was unable to progress beyond the first round in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
He missed the cut to reach Q2 by just six hundredths of a second. However he was 0.77 seconds than his team mate Fernando Alonso, who did not need to do a second run in Q1, allowing him to save a fresh set of soft tyres for later in the session.
Stroll said there was no obvious reason why he hadn’t been able to match his team mate’s pace.
“Everything felt fine,” he told the official F1 channel. “Just very slow today. No pace in the car and no pace in myself in my car.
“The car looks quick and Fernando was quick, so I don’t know. I don’t have more answers.”
“We have to look at the data, see if tyres, everything was working properly in the right window,” he added. “It’s just one of those days, I don’t know, I don’t have answers yet, we have to look at everything.”
Alonso qualified fifth, 11 places ahead of his team mate, and doesn’t believe the car was capable of more.
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“We were competitive in Q1, Q2 and then Q3 we had two sets [of soft tyres] today, different to other occasions. I think P5 is absolutely the maximum today, there is not much left on the car.
“Both laps in Q3 were quite risky but rewarding as well, because Suzuka is always fun to drive with low fuel and new tyres.
“I’m happy for the team – six months ago we were here, 1.5 seconds from pole position, we are four tenths now so definitely we are going into the right direction, but, we still need more steps.”
Aston Martin brought an upgrade for their car this weekend which Stroll has run since the first practice session. Alonso, who continued to use the old specification until final practice, says it is hard to say how much of a difference the new parts have made.
“We still need to weigh the data. That’s the best comparison possible when you run two cars in two different days and you get the data.
“I didn’t speak with the team yet but I think it’s a good step looking at the results in qualifying. But it is so tight up there, with one or two tenths you can change the whole grid position. We always want more, even if you improve the car you are just looking forward to the next one.”
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
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