Aston Martin ace hit with measly £86 fine at Emilia Romagna GP after telling off
The FIA stewards dished out some minor fines during free practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll was hit with an £86 (€100) fine after FP3 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday after the stewards judged that the Aston Martin racer was speeding at the pit lane.
The Canadian driver was clocked driving at 49.77mph, which surpassed the imposed speed limit of 49.7mph for personnel in the pit lane. This was a breach of Article 34.7 of the Sporting Regulations, so Stroll picked up an £86 fine for his troubles.
This was the second notable speeding offence of the weekend after Sergio Perez picked up a more significant £858 (€1000) fine on Friday. The Red Bull driver was 5.5mph over the speed limit in the pit lane, landing him in hot water with the FIA.
While the FIA’s fine was in line with their regulations, it will not be a significant penalty for Stroll, who is valued at an estimated £40million, while his father, Lawrence Stroll is a multi-billionaire, as well as the owner of the Aston Martin F1 team.
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Stroll’s position within the Aston Martin team and the relative safety that his father’s ownership affords him with regard to his seat have often led to harsh critiques of his performances. The 25-year-old has failed to score points in each of his last three starts and has notched just nine across the opening six races of the campaign.
Team principal Mike Krack was asked whether the Canadian racer is protected from criticism by Aston Martin ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP. In response, he told Auto Motor und Sport: “No, not at all. Criticism happens. But like with Fernando, we don’t voice the criticism in public.
“The Lance we know in the team is a different Lance than the one that may exist in the public eye. That’s one of the reasons why we have to stand up for him when criticism comes from the outside.”
Krack did bat away claims that the rest of the grid is fighting Stroll for the final place in the top 10, behind the top four teams and team-mate Fernando Alonso. “That is disrespectful in my opinion,” he said. “And unfair, too.
“If you look at his development in recent years, he handled the duel with Sebastian [Vettel] well. He has also done well against Fernando. We do still need to get a bit more consistency. We need to work on that. But I find that statement disrespectful, even if in an environment like Formula One, I can understand it.”