Lap one near-miss unsettled Stroll's race

Williams rookie Lance Stroll failed to see the checkered flag for his first Grand Prix but the teenager's performance was on a par with expectations until his retirement 17 laps from the end.

Stroll, who launched his race from last as a result of a grid penalty,  actually enjoyed a blistering start and first lap, gaining two spots following the collision between Magnussen and Ericsson at the first corner.

He then carved his way past a few other cars to complete the first lap in 14th place, but a tyre flat-spotted when he avoided the commotion at the start forced the Williams into the pits after just four laps.

"I had a good start, a bit risky, there were some guys who braked quite early in front of me,” Stroll explained.

I managed to gain some places then I had a flat-spot so I had to stop early.”

"We changed to Plan B, going to the two stop, but we managed to find clean air. I was behind Giovinazzi for a few laps which maybe cost me a couple of positions against Ocon and Hulkenberg when they came out of the pit lane.

"I could’ve maybe got them if I didn’t have Giovinazzi but it’s so hard to overtake and that kind of cost me some time. But anyways it was a good race until what happened at the end."

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Indeed, a front-left brake failure at Turn 13 put the Canadian out of the race with 17 laps to go.

"I believe it was a disc failure, but we need to check," he said.

"I hit the pedal and went long and couldn’t stop. I’m actually quite lucky it happened in the place it did with a bit of run-off or else it probably wouldn’t have been so pretty."

Stroll believes however that the root of his problems were to be found in yesterday's events.

"Unfortunately that little tap yesterday against the wall cost us a lot of positions in qualifying," he said.

"Today I think we were running a decent race, pace was pretty good even though it was a lonely race, P13 or whatever it was.

"Our pace wasn’t bad and we were running a solid race versus the people in front."

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