Canadian Grand Prix starting grid changes due to driver penalty | F1 | Sport

Lance Stroll is going to start this race from the pit lane after Aston Martin chose to fit his car with new engine components. He qualified down in 21st place, faster only than the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, and so his team took the opportunity to give him a new energy store and control electronics.

It’s his fourth of each of the season which is beyond the annual limit of three, and so that comes with automatic grid penalties. And because the changes have also been made during parc ferme conditions, between qualifying and the race, it means an automatic pit lane start for the Canadian at his home race.

It has been a difficult season up to now for Stroll and his Aston Martin team who have been way off the soft of pace that they want to be showing on track. A big part of that has been underpowered and unreliable engines provided by their new power unit provider Honda which looks likely to take some time for the Japanese firm to fix.

But not all the blame falls at Honda’s feet – despite spending a lot of money to bring in Adrian Newey as a partner and the lead designer of their cars, his first effort has been underwhelming with the front suspension of the car in particular believed to be significantly flawed.

Speaking after qualifying, Stroll said he had “no confidence in the car” and found it “really tricky” to set anything resembling a strong lap time, as he found himself again off the pace of team-mate Fernando Alonso. “Just no grip, it was a difficult session,” the Montreal native said.

“There were not many changes [between the Sprint race earlier in the day and qualifying], just a few little things. But there was just no grip in the car. Alonso qualified two places higher, going faster than both Cadillac cars and his team-mate which is the best that the two-time world champion can hope for in any qualifying session right now, given Aston Martin’s issues.

But when asked ahead of this weekend’s action how he can measure his own performance levels when his car is so uncompetitive, Alonso replied: “I don’t measure anything. I’m the best. I don’t need to prove anything. I don’t need to feel anything to believe that I’m at the right level.

“If I go to a go-kart track and I’m not the fastest, then I will be worried. If I go to a GT car and I’m not the fastest, I will be worried, and this kind of thing. Meanwhile, I’m doing that, and I’m still the fastest, so when I come to the Formula 1 weekend, it’s just a matter of time that I have a better car.”