Wing change to see Stroll start from pit lane

Williams’ Lance Stroll has a tough afternoon ahead of him in Hungary. After his qualifying crash on Saturday he has had to revert back to an old-spec front wing – and as a result will start the Budapest race from the pit lane.

Stroll initially managed the changeable conditions well in qualifying, with the Canadian progressing to Q2. However, as the rain worsened in the session’s second phase, he lost control and swiped his car’s front wing against the Hungaroring barriers.

Williams were running their latest, updated wing (introduced recently in Germany) on both cars, but with no spares available Stroll has been forced to switch to a previous version – and the change of spec means a breach of Parce Ferme regulations, which in turn requires him to commence the race from the pit lane.

Stroll had qualified 15th – five places above team mate Sergey Sirotkin. His only consolation is that the pit-lane start means Williams have also been able to change the suspension set-up on his car, presumably optimising it for this afternoon’s expected warm and dry conditions, rather than the monsoon-like ones seen at times in qualifying.