The point of Racing Point was for young Lance Stroll to start scoring points on a regular basis once again, but at the end of his first day of qualifying driving for the team his billionaire father bought for him the Canadian youngster was left to rue traffic on his hot lap which saw him fail to make it out of Q1.
In contrast, Sergio Perez in the sister car made it right through to Q3 and will line-up tenth on the grid on what was a bittersweet afternoon for The Pinks.
Stroll might be excused for the traffic that did hamper his lap, but it will still hurt to be outqualified on his 'first day' at work for the family business because in free practice he was better than 16th.
Perez was somewhat subdued during free practice but in qualy he delivered a gritty performance at a venue that has not always been kind to the Silverstone built cars.
Sergio Perez, 10th: “Making the top ten is a great way to start the season. We did a great job throughout qualifying and I was really pleased with my lap in Q2. The key today was to avoid mistakes and be consistent. It will be interesting to see where we stand in the race but it’s never easy to overtake on this track so starting in the top ten is important."
"Hopefully, we can hold position and make up some ground at the start. As I always say, it doesn’t matter where you start the season, but where you finish. There is great potential in this car and I’m confident we can keep improving as the year goes on.”
Lance Stroll , 16th: “My best lap today was affected by traffic. I came across Grosjean, who was on an out lap, at turn nine and it definitely cost me a few tenths. It’s a real shame because I really felt good with the car today and we had the speed to progress to at least Q2."
"All I can do now is try and make up some positions at the start and see how things play out in the race. I think we look quite competitive with our race pace so we can still come away with a good result.”
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: “Qualifying was very tight, just as we expected, but we made Q3 with Sergio delivering some clean and tidy laps. Lance’s session was compromised by Grosjean staying on the racing line on his slow lap, which cost Lance a few tenths and the chance to progress to Q2."
"With such a tight midfield, we can’t afford to give anything away and those tenths proved costly. We expect things to be just as close tomorrow. Our race pace looks consistent based on the long runs we did on Friday, but this race is all about track position so a good opening lap will play a big part in our final result. Scoring points remains our target.”
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