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Stroll: Force India-Racing Point transition put us on the back foot in 2019

Stroll: Force India-Racing Point transition "put us on the back foot" in 2019

28-12-2019 11:07
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Racing Point driver Lance Stroll thinks the birth of the team during the summer of 2018 put them "on the back foot" for the start of the 2019 season, as Force India's financial problems at the time stalled development on this year's challenger.

Force India was put into administration during the summer break of 2018 by Sergio Perez, eventually leading into the purchase of the team by Stroll's father Lawrence, who re-named the team Racing Point.

Logically, (Lance) Stroll made the switch from Williams to Racing Point for the 2019 season, teaming up with Perez under the new ownership. 

While the side is very ambitious, they 'only' finished 2019 in seventh place in the constructors' championship, with Stroll scoring 21 of the team's 73 points as he ended the year in 15th place.

The 21-year-old explained the relatively disappointing year came because of the summer of 2018, where development on the car was halted for a long time before the eventual buy-out.

“Formula 1 is always changing. Tyres are changing every year, a new car is developed, with experience, and I think next year is a really exciting year for the team," the Canadian told Crash.net.

“We had a lot of challenges coming into this year with everything that went on in 2018, with the transition from Force India to Racing Point. I do think that put us on the back foot coming into this year.

“I think next year is really going to be representative of what we can do over the winter, and how strong we can be when we show up in Melbourne.”

Racing Point will want to return to where Force India once was two years ago, when the side finished fourth in the constructors' championship for the second year in a row despite having the smallest budget on the grid.