Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Circuit of the Americas, 2025

The stewards handed Lance Stroll a five-place grid drop for his collision with Esteban Ocon in today’s sprint race in Austin.

The Aston Martin driver was trying to take 12th place off his rival at turn one on lap 16. Stroll made a late dive to the inside, locked up and made heavy contact with the left-rear of the Haas.

Both drivers retired due to damage. The stewards ruled Stroll was entirely to blame.

“Car 18 [Stroll] attempted an inside overtake on car 31 [Ocon] into turn one but misjudged the braking point and collided with car 31. The stewards determine that the driver of car 18 is wholly at fault and apply a penalty accordingly.

“As the driver to be penalised did not finish the race a grid penalty equalling a 10 seconds time penalty is imposed.”

Stroll’s grid drop penalty will be applied to the grid for tomorrow’s grand prix.

The stewards also added two penalty points to Stroll’s licence. That puts him on a total of seven which means he is now more than halfway towards an automatic ban, which is triggered if a driver reaches 12 points.

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Stroll apologised to Ocon afterwards. “I thought I was close enough to dive down the inside,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “But then on the inside of the track it’s just a little bit dirty, so I locked the front left and I was just too far behind to make the move. So apologies to Esteban.”

Penalty box

Did the stewards issue the correct penalty?

Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Lance Stroll’s penalty for his collision with Esteban Ocon is:

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Far too lenient (15%)
  • Slightly too lenient (15%)
  • Correct (69%)
  • Slightly too harsh (0%)
  • Far too harsh (0%)

Total Voters: 13

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