Lance Stroll’s Italian Grand Prix unravelled in painful fashion after a disastrous 16-second pit stop destroyed his chances of salvaging anything from Monza.
The Aston Martin driver came in on lap 49 to swap his hard tyres for softs, but what should have been routine turned into a mess. First, the front-left wheel gunner struggled to re-fit the nut, costing valuable seconds. Then, even when that was sorted, Stroll was left stranded — staring at a blank pit exit light that never turned green.
Earlier in the race Fernando Alonso had no such issue with the same system, but Stroll never received the go-ahead signal.
Driving away without a light was out of the question, as Alpine mechanics were servicing Pierre Gasly just metres ahead.
“The light’s not working,” Stroll reported over team radio. Race engineer Gary Gannon reassured him: “The car’s okay, car’s okay,” while mechanics frantically waved him out. Eventually, Stroll pulled away in frustration.
“There were lights, but it was not working in the pit stop,” Stroll said as he rejoined. “Understood, copy that Lance. Four to go, just make up whatever time you can,” Gannon replied.
From opportunity to disaster
Starting 16th, Stroll ran one of the longest opening stints on hards. His consistency saw him climb as high as eighth, and with Esteban Ocon carrying a five-second penalty, P12 or even higher seemed possible.
But the pit stop carnage crushed any chance of a points finish. “The light at the pit stop, quite bad,” Stroll said bluntly after the race.
“Yeah, a big problem there so we’ll get on top of that,” Gannon responded. “Without the pit stop probably would have been P12.”
Aston Martin weren’t alone in facing pit-light drama this season. In Bahrain, both Red Bull drivers also endured faulty pit exit lights that cost them between two and four seconds.
