F1 United States GP: Lance Stroll given three-place grid penalty for Mexico after Fernando Alonso crash
Stroll and Alonso - who will become teammates at Aston Martin next season - were involved 🐽in a scary high-speed clash when they came together on the back straight on Lap 22.
After tagging the back of Stroll when the Aston Martin driver jinked late in defence, Alonso’s Alpine was sent airborne and suffered a big impact when his꧒ car hit t🎀he ground.
Alonso and Stroll come together
— Formula 1 (@F1)
Stroll was forced 🤡to retire on the spot, while Alonso remarka🍒bly went on to finish seventh.
The incident was reviewed by the ꩵCOTA stewards, who deemed Stroll to be “predominately to blame”.
"It was clear to us that the driver of ♊Car 18 [Stroll] made a late move in reacting to the overtaking attempt by the driver of Car 14 [Alonso༒] by moving to the left. The stewards determine that the driver of Car 18 was predominantly to blame,” they noted in a statement.
Stroll gave Alonso ‘plenty of room’
Prior to the post-race investigation, Stroll insisted he had given Alonso “plenty ꦐof room”
"I mean, I definitely moved late,✃ but there was a big difference i✃n speed," the Canadian explained.
"I was judging more or less, kind of picking where he was behind me. But it's not like I hit him on the side of his 🌺car. The impact is still his front wing to the rear of my car.
"I gave him plenty of room on the lef♛t of the track, so it's not like I squeezed him or anything like that against a wal⛎l. He could have moved earlier and went more to the left. He didn't have to get so close to me either.
"So, there's a lot of different ways you𒅌 could look at the incident.”
Two-time world cham🎉pion Alonso described the crash as a𝓰 “racing incident” and refused to pin the blame on Stroll.
"Honestly, when you see the t🦄hing on the TV it is a racing incident,” he said.
"We move at the same time to the lef🎀t and that was the trigger of everything. I think it was very unfortunate for everyone.
"We w🐓ere OK in the stewards' room. I think it was more between our sporting directors than between us. I think we saw the incident wi𝄹th the same eyes and our sporting directors were seeing it with completely different eyes!
"When you are at 300 (km/h) those movements... in one tenth of a second you move 200 meters. So if you see it in slow motion and you go frame-by-frame🌟 he will move a little bit๊ later than me.
"If you go normal speed, you see both cars more or less at the same tim𓄧e. That's why after looking on TV I think🌺 there's nothing you can do differently."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the worl꧙d. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Le🍨wis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
