Ted Kravitz explains why Lance Stroll is ‘annoyed’ with Aston Martin after Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying

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Lance Stroll could face a pit lane start for the Bahrain Grand Prix after Aston Martin identified an issue with his car.

The Canadian has provisionally qualified in P19 following a disappointing session, in which he failed to progress any further than Q1 for a second race in a row.

Stroll failed to progress through qualifying at Suzuka and in the race he was the only driver to complete three pit stops, which put him last in the order and a lap down at the chequered flag.

Discussing his qualifying session in Bahrain on his notebook programme for Sky Sports F1, Ted Kravitz revealed what team representative Mike Krack told media and why Stroll was frustrated.

Aston Martin got ride height setup wrong with Lance Stroll

Krack told media that there was a problem with the ride height of Stroll’s car in qualifying for Bahrain, which caused understeer and cost him lap time.

Kravitz believes that will lead Aston Martin to make one change for Stroll, which could see him start from the pit lane for the main race.

“It’s very kind of Aston Martin to issue that instant mea culpa from Mike Krack, but I’m just wondering whether they did it because Lance Stroll is particularly annoyed about it and wants everyone to know that it isn’t his fault,” said Kravtiz.

“It’s the right thing to do, but that’s not the usual standard of engineering at Aston Martin so something has gone wrong somewhere to get the ride height wrong, so hopefully they can pull the car out of Parc Ferme and get it right then start from the pit lane.”

Lance Stroll under scrutiny at Aston Martin

Stroll’s position at Aston Martin is coming under increased scrutiny, having only finished in the points once so far at Australia.

Although Fernando Alonso is yet to score points due to mechanical failures, Stroll has not picked up the points where necessary.

The Canadian’s contract is rolling due to his status as the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, however, some feel it would be better to give Felipe Drugovich a seat.

Liam Lawson thinks it’s ‘crazy’ Drugovich doesn’t have a seat already in F1, given how well he has performed in Friday practice sessions.