Race Recap: 2021 Spanish Grand Prix
Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team’s Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel both came close to scoring points in the Spanish Grand Prix after a late and tense midfield battle.
Both drivers were able to feel the benefit of recent upgrades to the AMR21 as the team continues to work hard to move up the midfield.
Lance
Lance started the Grand Prix from 11th on the grid and immediately moved into a wheel-to-wheel battle with the Alpine of Fernando Alonso through the opening corners.
Sebastian would follow the Canadian closely across the opening laps as they battled hard but fair, with Lance remaining ahead.
A Safety Car on the eighth lap of 66 offered Lance the chance to make progress, despite the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s limited opportunities for overtaking.
Race Recap
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Two laps later, the race resumed, and Lance picked up his battle against Alonso, pressuring the Spaniard into a mistake at Turn Two on the following lap and stealing a march into Turn Four.
Lance initially made a move around the outside of the turn, making the move stick when he switched to the inside at Turn Five.
Running in 10th, Lance would make his first stop on lap 22 to switch onto a set of new Medium tyres.
Lance worked his way back up the field as the first set of pitstops cycled through, before making a second stop seventeen laps later for a set of used Softs.
He would then join a showdown for 10th place in the final six laps as Alonso headed a train of cars all in DRS range.
Lance managed to move clear of Alonso on the exit of Turn One as he drove around the outside, only for the Alpine driver to make contact with the AMR21, sending Lance wide.
We raced hard against Fernando Alonso, and the moment at Turn One was a racing incident.
Having run off track, Lance allowed Alonso back through into 10th and returned to the position a lap later after a similar move at Turn One.
“We raced hard against Fernando [Alonso], and the moment at Turn One was a racing incident,” reflected Lance.
“I braked deep into the corner, and he was late on the brakes. We made some contact, and he pushed me wide.”
But Lance was unable to hold onto 10th as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly moved past with just three laps remaining.
“It is a bit frustrating not to get the point at the end,” added Lance. “We fought hard with the AlphaTauri, but just did not have enough to get P10.
“This weekend has helped us continue to learn and improve the car. We will keep pushing to unlock some more speed before Monaco.”
Sebastian
Sebastian made a strong start to the Grand Prix by immediately moving clear of Gasly and following Lance closely across the opening lap.
He would soon settle into 12th and, following the early Safety Car, he would increase the pressure on Alonso ahead as the pair began to duel.
It would come down to a battle in the pitlane on lap 21, and Alonso narrowly emerged ahead, with the German exiting on the Medium tyre.
Sebastian would return to the rear of the Alpine soon after before demonstrating his wheel-to-wheel strengths at Turn 4.
Coming across traffic at Turn 4 on lap 30, while also fending off Gasly, Sebastian defended resolutely.
The new parts we had here helped, and we need to keep taking steps forward each weekend.
He then immediately launched a move down the inside on the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi at the following corner to keep up the pressure on the top 10.
Sebastian was then able to cycle back to 12th once the off-strategy Kimi Räikkönen had pitted before making his second stop on lap 38 for a final stint on softs.
“I was running out of tyre life at the end, even though we went for the two-stop strategy,” said Sebastian.
“I made quite an early second stop and came out behind Kimi [Räikkönen], which I think hurt my tyres quite a lot. That is what made it difficult to fight for points.
He would join the DRS train led by Alonso in the battle for 10th late on but finished 13th after a challenging final stint.
“With hindsight, it is always easy to say what you would do differently, but it was difficult to fight the cars around me in the closing laps when they had a tyre advantage,” said Sebastian.
“But we will keep working hard, and we know there is a long season still ahead of us.
“The new parts we had here helped, and we need to keep taking steps forward each weekend.”
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