Lance Stroll says he and Racing Point let “major opportunities” slip through their fingers during the 2020 Formula 1 campaign.
Stroll claimed a shock maiden pole position at Istanbul Park and podiums at Monza and Sakhir, but finished only 11th in the standings amid a spate of setbacks, including missing the Nurburgring round due to illness.
Stroll qualified third at the Hungaroring, but ceded track position, and was also in the mix for a podium at Mugello until suffering a high-speed accident following a tyre failure.
“We definitely had a very strong car,” said Stroll. “The team has done an incredible job over the winter to develop this car.
“From my side, I don’t think it was the smoothest year. There’s been some big highlights, the pole as great, two podiums but I think we had a lot more podium opportunities and just points on the table in general that we didn’t pick up if I look back at the season in total.
“Hungary was an opportunity for a podium but there was some wet weather that mixed things up, we ended up finishing fourth.
“Mugello, we definitely were on for a podium. We were P4 and hunting down P3 with much better pace there.
“I think Turkey was a major missed opportunity, we were leading the race for 30 laps and finished the race ninth in the end with car damage.
“There’s quite a few races I think that slipped away from us and then of course, I got COVID. There were some missed opportunities this year so that’s a little bit frustrating but that’s part of the sport.
“It’s all about highs and lows. Enjoying the highs and accepting that sometimes there are some rough patches, and unfortunately in the second part of the season, we’ve had a few rough patches.”
Stroll will line up for a third season at the Silverstone-based team, now under Aston Martin branding, and has been joined by Sebastian Vettel.
