After a strong Qualifying session, which saw both Aston Martin drivers enter Q3 on the medium tyre, Lance Stroll started the Imola GP from P8.
Stroll maintained his starting position until the first cars dashed into the pits for an early pit stop.
Running in P5, the Aston Martin driver, who had started on the medium tyre, made his first stop on lap 15, switching to the hard compound.
After the stop, Stroll ran outside the Top 10 until the VSC period, during which a bunch of cars were pitted.
The Canadian was promoted to P9, but he eventually had to concede position as cars on fresher tyres made their way towards the front.
Aston Martin opted for a second stop under the Safety Car, sending Stroll out on the medium tyre for the final stint of the race.
Stroll was running in P15 at the Safety Car restart and would ultimately finish the race in the same position.
F1 Imola GP verdict by Lance Stroll
When asked in the print media pen following the Imola GP if he could have extracted more performance from his Aston Martin, Stroll responded:
“No, just bad luck with the safety car.
“We were like seventh at the beginning of the race and then the Safety Car appeared.”
Questioned about which position could have been accomplished without the Safety Car, he added:
“Probably like ninth.”
Aston Martin’s update
Aston Martin brought upgrades to the F1 Imola GP, and after an encouraging Qualifying session, it looked like the team had made a significant step.
However, after finishing the race just outside the points in P11 [Alonso] and P15 [Stroll], it remains to be seen whether the updates are a step in the right direction.Stroll believes the team will have a clearer picture after the next round in Monaco, a track with quite distinctive characteristics.
The Canadian believes that if the performance gain shown in Imola translates to low-speed corners as well, it could be positive for Aston Martin.
“Yeah, we’ll see.
“I mean, the race, no, because unlucky with the safety car, so it’s never fun to be on the wrong end of that.
“But yeah, upgrades, I think we’ll know more in Monaco a different kind of track.
“If we can keep this form, with low-speed corners too, then it’ll be good.
“But I think we’ll know a lot more. This is a high-speed track, kind of a one-corner type around the circuit.
“Next week, very different kind of corners.
“We’ll see how we do.”
Despite the improvement in practice and Qualifying for the Imola GP, Stroll emphasises that the team will have a clearer picture in Monaco.
“I think in Monaco we’ll learn a lot more.”
Positive signs in the early stages of the Imola GP
Stroll was cautious about judging the updates, as it is hard to compare when the field uses differing strategies.
The Aston Martin Driver did, however, point to the fact that he was able to pull away from the chasing cars at the start and then keep pace with Williams in front as a positive sign.
“Yeah, we have to look into it.
“I haven’t seen the pace of everyone and how we looked.
“Everyone was on different strategies, the hard runners, so we stopped early. Beginning of the race, pulling away from whoever was behind me. I think it was Alpine.
“And then holding the Williams in front.
“So, I felt quite okay at the beginning of the race.”
Stroll’s verdict on the C6 compound
Pirelli introduced the C6 tyres, which saw strategic variances during the Imola GP.
While many complained that the C6 tyre wasn’t durable enough, Stroll believes Pirelli could go even softer to create a more expansive delta between the different tyre compounds.
“No, I like when there’s a big variety of tyres.
“It makes more options.
“Throughout the weekend, when everything’s too hard and robust, then it’s always easy one-stops.
“We probably need to go even softer, because it was still an easy one-stop race.
“We need to see bigger deltas between the compounds.”
