Stroll finds himself innocent of crash with Alonso: ‘He has enough space’

Lance Stroll admits he took his defensive move on Fernando Alonso “definitely late,” but it’s not like he was at fault or responsible for the accident, he says. Alonso and his future Aston Martin teammate were involved in a high-speed crash during the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

With the pitch increased after Safety Car restarted on lap 22, Alonso tasked Stroll for a position that made the Canadian only able to steer left to defend. Alonso hit the back of the AMR22 and it was fired. Despite hitting a wall on the left side of the track when he went down, Alonso managed to go on and finish the race.

Stroll was awarded a three-place penalty at the next race, the Mexican Grand Prix, with the driver acknowledging that he fell behind in defense. However, he points out that it was Alonso who hit him, not the other way around.

Aston Martin driver: “I mean, I definitely made the defense late, but there was a huge difference in velocity. I kind of judged, sort of looking for his place behind me. But it’s not like I hit the side of his car as the collision resulted in He broke his front wing and behind me, I gave him plenty of space on the left side of the track so it wasn’t like I was pushing him against a wall, he was able to get up early and go more to the left. He didn’t have to come close to me either.”

“There are so many different ways you can look at the crash. It was a shame because it was such a close race from wheel to wheel and unfortunately the connection was made.”

The 23-year-old does not believe that Sunday’s accident will negatively affect his relationship with his teammate in 2023. “I don’t look at it that way. We are drivers. It can happen in the race,” Strol concluded.