Stroll's Shanghai début ends early after clash with Perez

Williams' rookie driver Lance Stroll wasn't able to complete a single lap of the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

He was taken out in turn 10 by a collision with Force India's Sergio Perez that left Stroll beached in the gravel run-off. The car was cleared under a virtual safety car, but Stroll had to watch the rest of the race from the pit wall.

"Unfortunately, Lance’s race ended very quickly after being hit from behind at Turn 10," confirmed Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe. "It was a shame after his strong qualifying result yesterday."

"I was hit from the rear at turn 10 and that was the end of my race," said Stroll. He added: "I was in front, knew the corner was mine and had to turn in eventually.

"I got hit and then the car was broken, most likely with a puncture and damaged suspension.

"It was just unfortunate as that was my race over," he sighed.

The clash was reviewed by the race stewards but no further action was taken. That suggested that whatever blame for the incident was to be had was shared equally by both drivers.

Steely Hamilton stays in charge for Shanghai win

Despite his early exit from the race, Stroll was determined to look on the bright side of his first Shanghai weekend.

"While today was difficult, we have some positives to take out of this weekend," he insisted.

"The qualifying was good, even if the race was not what we wanted. It's still early days and there are a lot more opportunities.

"I am now looking forward to Bahrain next weekend, and that is what I am concentrating on now," he added.

GALLERY: All the pictures from Sunday in Shanghai

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.