Lance Stroll’s first appearance in the British Grand Prix didn’t go as well as he hoped. With his sights set on extending his three-race point streak and climbing up the Formula 1 driver standings, Stroll faltered and finished 16th in a race won by Lewis Hamilton.
"It was not a good race for us,” Stroll said in his post-race interview. “The first stint was also okay, and then also at the start of the second stint things weren't bad.”
Try as he might, @MassaFelipe19 can't find a way past Perez, but does finish in the points in P10.
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) July 16, 2017
Lance finishes his first #BritishGP P16 pic.twitter.com/aZLDsGIMaz
Stroll was more than content with his progress in the race’s early stage. Starting at P15, he quickly made his way up to P11. When Romain Grosjean passed him on the fifth lap, Stroll’s day started to spiral out of control. In order to address the multiple issues with his car, he was doomed by a flurry of necessary pit stops.
“We picked up some damage on the car, which I believe was a broken bargeboard. I started to feel something was wrong; we suspected it was the tires and so I stopped again. However, this was for nothing really as it just got worse from there.”
It was the condition and damage done to the car that Stroll says “destroyed our race.” Now, Stroll’s focus shifts to July 30 — the Hungarian Grand Prix — to attempt to restart his point streak.
Hamilton, meanwhile, erased a 20-point deficit in the drivers' title race and closed to within one point of leader Sebastian Vettel, who finished seventh Sunday. In winning the race for a fifth time, Hamilton finished in a time of 1 hour 21 minutes and 27 seconds. Here's a recap of how the points race changed at Silverstone.
Pre-race. Gap: 20 points - Hamilton endured a frustrating Austrian Grand Prix, with Vettel opening up strong lead with second place behind Valtteri Bottas.
Lap 1/51. Gap: 10 points - But Hamilton responded with his fifth pole position around Silverstone - equalling another Jim Clark benchmark, while Vettel could only qualify third behind Kimi Raikkonen.
Lap 2/51. Gap: 7 points - Vettel loses out to Max Verstappen off the line as the Red Bull gets away and secures third place after a short tussle with the German.
Lap 14/51. Gap: 7 points - Vettel fights back to Verstappen's gearbox, but cannot get by the Dutchman on track, amid typically fierce defence from the youngster.
Lap 20/51. Gap: 7 points - Strategy comes to the fore for Vettel as Ferrari pull off the undercut on Verstappen. The German stays fourth, but Bottas ahead still needs to pit.
Lap 33/51. Gap: 10 points - Indeed, Bottas is serviced, which elevates Vettel to a podium place. Lap 43/51. Gap: 7 points - However, the early strategy win comes back to cost Vettel somewhat as Bottas, on quicker tyres, comfortably blasts past at Stowe.
Lap 49/51. Gap: 1 point - And things go from bad to worse for Vettel as his front left tyre delaminates, forcing him into a last-gasp stop, which salvages seventh place and the narrowest of championship leads.
Matthew Scott of Omnisport contributed to this report.