Racing Point have discovered damage to Lance Stroll’s front wing which they believe caused the severe graining on his second set of tyres which cost him the lead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

Stroll, who led 32 laps of the race, lost pace in the second half of the race as his intermediate tyres began to grain. He was caught by team mate Sergio Perez, and Racing Point made the decision to bring him in for a fresh set of tyres.

This did not seem to cure Stroll’s problem: His lap times were initially slower on his second set of intermediates, and he fell to ninth place at the finish.

Racing Point discovered Stroll’s front wing was damaged when they inspected his car after the race.

“It was discovered during the team’s routine after-race car set-down that damage to the underside of Lance’s front wing was a significant contributor to the severe graining issues that Lance experienced during his second and third stints on the intermediate tyres at the Turkish Grand Prix,” said the team in a statement.

“Lance reported poor tyre performance, significant understeer, and graining from lap 17 onwards in the race. Pitting for a fresh set of intermediates on lap 36 failed to resolve the problem with the graining becoming even more severe.

“One of the strakes on the underside of the front wing came loose and lodged itself in such a way that the blockage caused a significant loss of front downforce. The resultant loss of front downforce contributed to increased levels of graining.”

The team said they detected a loss of downforce on Stroll’s car during the race.

“Data during the race confirmed there was a significant loss of front downforce, but with no visible damage to the top side of the front wing, combined with the low-grip conditions, it was difficult to confirm whether the data was correct.

“It was only after the race, when the car returned to the garage, that the damage and blockage to the underside of the front wing was discovered.”

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2020 F1 season

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