The new season is about to start, but the polemics concerning Abu Dhabi are far from over. 

The Aston Martin driver, along with Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher, wasn’t allowed to unlap himself behind the Safety Car following the accident of Nicholas Latifi in the closing stages of last year's final race. 

Only the drivers between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were allowed to do so.

Stroll branded the decision ridiculous when speaking to MotorLat and other selected media yesterday at the unveiling of the AMR22.

“My opinion is that it’s ridiculous that we didn’t go back racing the way that we should have gone back,” the Aston Martin driver said.

“You can’t change the rules halfway through, at the end of a race, and tell half the cars they can overtake.”

“Unfortunately, I was part of the group of the other half of the cars and couldn’t overtake on brand new soft tyres with the opportunity to pass and maybe do something.”

Stroll wants the rules to be applied consistently and not to be broken, even in the most intense of situations.

“It’s just never been done before and it’s important that we keep rules consistent.

“I understand it’s great to go racing and everyone wants to see the last lap of the race and the two drivers fighting for the world championship go head-to-head with one lap to go but we can’t be making up rules at the end of a race, that has to be set in stone.

“If there was maybe an error where cars didn’t pass soon enough when the safety car came out or backmarkers weren’t allowed to pass the safety car early enough and the consequence is we won’t get the whole lap of racing well, then that’s how it is,”- he continues.

“That is the rule, the rules have to be consistent. In Formula 1 we’ve seen some inconsistency in penalties and decision making and I think this was maybe a little bit too much. It’s important that those things are set in stone.”

By Silvia Giorgi. 

New phone. Who this ? #AMR22 pic.twitter.com/o6YHj9FaB9

— Lance Stroll (@lance_stroll) February 10, 2022