Monza Podium for Lance at the Temple of Speed

Lance Stroll took 3rd place and a spot on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix after a superb drive in a chaotic race at Monza.

Lance and the team headed to the Temple of Speed at Monza for the second race in this triple header weekend of Formula 1 action.

His weekend started solidly with P13 and P8 in Friday's running, focussing on race running for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Saturday saw Lance put in a solid qualifying performance, putting himself 8th on the grid for the race.

After another seemingly trademark great start, Lance got his elbows out from his P8 grid slot and moved to P7 with a lovely move on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, setting us up for a nice run to a double top 10 finish… but the race soon turned on its head!

The Haas of Kevin Magnussen stopped right at the entry of the pit lane on Lap 20 of 53 and required the Safety Car to head out.

Lance stayed out during the period to retain track position and ran in P2 as the race got back underway.
The race was suspended shortly afterwards by Charles Leclerc’s high-speed crash at the Parabolica bringing out the Red Flag on Lap 26.

Able to change tyres under the Red Flag conditions, Lance had a free pitstop to switch to a set of new Medium tyres.

That meant Lance lined up second at the restart – with Lewis Hamilton ahead about to take a stop/go penalty that helped propel our Canadian into the battle for victory!

A difficult launch when the race went green cost Lance several places, but he was soon battling the McLaren of Carlos Sainz Jr for second as the pair hunted down the race-leading Pierre Gasly in the final laps.

In the end, the order remained the same – but that just meant Lance was on the podium! Securing P3 at the finish line, his second podium in his Formula One career and the first for Racing Point Formula 1 Team in this guise!

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Lance: “It’s been a while since I’ve stood on the podium, but it was worth the wait to get my second one! It feels great to be back on the podium, I’m still pinching myself!

Firstly, I want to congratulate Pierre, it was such a crazy race, but he fully deserved that win. He had a great launch at the restart and was so consistent after that. It’s a bit of a bummer for me, because I think it was our race to win.

We got a bit of luck with the timing of the red flag, but that’s part of Formula 1 and I’ll take it when it comes!

Regardless, I’m delighted with third today. I’m so happy for the team – thanks to them for giving me such a strong car.”

We head into the second Italian race in succession, as Lance heads to the new venue of Mugello for the Tuscan Grand Prix on the 11-13 September.