Back at the 2017 Malaysian GP, Lance Stroll had an unpleasant shunt with Sebastian Vettel during the cooldown lap! This, to say the least, infuriated Vettel and ruined his mood after all the hard work he had done throughout the race at the Sepang International Circuit.
Vettel had completed a maverick comeback drive from P20 to P4 in the Grand Prix. On the cooldown lap, he was trying to pass Stroll on his way back to the pits. As the then-Ferrari driver tried his way out around the outside, Stroll’s front right tire clipped Vettel’s right left tire and sent his car airborne.
“Is that possible?” reacted the four-time world champion in disbelief, as per a video on Reddit. “Stroll is not looking where he’s going. He completely shunted into my car. I mean, seriously.”
The Canadian driver, however, did not take the blame all by himself. He responded on the radio instead by saying, “Vettel just ran left to the side of me!” While it seemed like it was Stroll’s fault, the stewards decided not to penalize him for the incident. Interestingly, the seven-year-old video recently resurfaced on the internet amid the 25-year-old’s Chinese GP ordeal.
How is Lance Stroll facing the wrath for ruining multiple drivers’ races?
Daniel Ricciardo, who was undergoing consecutive underwhelming performances this season, saw a light on the other side of the tunnel in China. Ricciardo, with a new chassis, got the better of his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, and looked good to have a points finish.
However, on lap 27 of the Grand Prix, all his hope ended after Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin AMR24 crashed into the back of Ricciardo’s VCARB-01, just before the first Safety Car restart. However, the field cluttered after Fernando Alonso, who was running ahead of them, locked up around turn 14, and this slowed down the drivers behind him.
While the rest of the drivers managed to slow down in time, Stroll couldn’t. The #18 driver sent the Honey Badger’s car airborne, ruining all his hope. The hit also affected Oscar Piastri, as the McLaren driver’s MCL38 suffered damage in its diffuser after Ricciardo failed to control his car after getting the hit.
This led to the Stewards handing a 10-second time penalty to the Canadian driver along with two penalty points. This takes his overall penalty points tally to seven in the past 12 months. While Stroll was clearly the one at fault, he blamed Ricciardo for the incident on his radio, triggering an angry reaction from the Aussie.
