Lance Stroll says the penalties dished out for track limit during the Qatar Grand Prix were a “joke”, adding the stewards “don’t understand what Formula 1 is”.
Track limits proved a contentious topic across the Qatar weekend, with both McLaren drivers being relegated places in qualifying after having times deleted.
The race witnessed a total of 51 incidences noted, with Stroll among a quartet of drivers who picked up more than one penalty.
Stroll subsequently was relegated from ninth to 11th once his brace of five-second penalties was applied post-race, denying him his first points finish in five rounds.
“It’s a little bit of a joke that they’re giving penalties for this – they don’t understand what Formula 1 is and what they’re putting us through,” he argued.
Following Pirelli’s discovery of ‘micro cuts’ on its tyres after Friday’s running, the FIA reduced the track width at the high-speed Turns 12 and 13 by 80cm to prevent drivers from venturing out onto the kerbs that were believed to be causing the damage.
But Stroll has condemned the stewards for failing to recognise when an advantage has been gained and for failing to accommodate for the impact the gruelling conditions had.
“They’re giving us track limit penalties and they’re making the track narrower. And you can’t go over the same kerbs because the tyres are failing if we do,” he debated.
“I think the track limits thing is something I think just has to be addressed. Because we’ve seen Austria, we’ve seen this weekend, just people getting penalties and it’s not like we’re gaining an advantage when they’re going off the track by three millimetres.
“60 laps of concentration, 65-70 degree temperatures in the car with five to six and a half G, you know, that’s what the frustrating part is.
“We hustled out there and drove a good race to finish ninth on the road, and then 11th with no points with two penalties. It’s a really frustrating result to not get anything out of it.”
Stroll was one of several competitors who experienced struggles with the searing humidity, resulting in him encountering trouble climbing from his Aston Martin car.
The Canadian admits that he was even “fading in and out” with “20 laps to go”.
Asked whether something should have been done earlier to avoid the heat exhaustion many suffered, Stroll replied: “I don’t know. Maybe they like it as part of the show.
“But yeah, I think it’s a combination of things. It’s the track limit thing. Having to focus like that, the time of year we come here, the temperature is too much. Maybe there is some kind of ventilation system, we have to look into for this kind of hot races like Singapore and here.
“Cars are getting stiffer, heavier – it’s a smooth track but you can feel the stiffness of the cars when you’re riding over kerbs and stuff and I think that’s a big part of the physicality.
“It’s just the ride, these cars being so harsh and the G-Force being so high, it makes it really challenging. Maybe it’s just something we have to address, think about going softer cars, some kind of ventilation system we bring to these kinds of races at these temperatures. And spend more time in the sauna, I guess!”
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