F1 News: Lance Stroll Crashes Out Of Belgian GP Sprint Shootout

Lance Stroll brings SQ2 to a close.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll has crashed out of Shootout Qualifying 2 on Turn 9 after the team gambled on slick medium tyres as the rainy Spa track started to dry up. 

Struggling with his slick rubber, the Canadian driver wasn't able to place himself in the top 10 on his first run, finishing in the bottom five behind drivers still on intermediates. Continuing to a second run, the driver pushed harder, trying to switch on his tyres despite a lot of the track still being slightly wet.

Turn 8 saw Stroll tentatively navigate the darker, damper parts of the track, but Turn 9 was met with oversteer. Turning into it, the car left the track, hitting the wall and triggering a red flag bringing the session to a close. This meant his teammate Fernando Alonso wasn't able to reach SQ3 and will be starting P15 later today. 

Strangely, Stroll wasn't on the grippier soft tyre, but it was confirmed that the track (stupidly) wasn't declared wet by the FIA, so the usual rules applied, forcing the team to choose medium tyres instead of the softer reds.

This is disastrous behaviour from the FIA, who intentionally made it less safe for the drivers less than a month after someone died on this track. 

"We intentionally didn't declare the track wet because that would have allowed the teams to use whatever tyres they want," the FIA declared.