Stroll hails 'great day' despite FP2 crash

Lance Stroll believes he had "a great day" for his first time at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing during FP2.

Running competitively during the afternoon session, Stroll hit the wall at Massenet and heavily damaged the right hand side of his car, bringing out the red flag. Despite his error, Stroll was encouraged by how quickly he got up to speed and said his crash was a case of trying to find out how much harder he could push.

"I basically just sent it in kind of looking for the limit and I lost the rear, got onto the dirt a little bit and lost the rear," Stroll said. "Just a typical street circuit mistake.

"What's good here is at least the tire seems to be hanging on quite a bit so we're able to do multiple push laps. FP3 I'm just going to build back up my rhythm in that area, but I know pretty clearly in my head what I did wrong. I just kind of risked it going in and I was waiting to see if it was going to hang on or not. It didn't but at least now I know.

"I think if you don't touch the wall in Monaco, you're not on the limit. At least I knew I was pushing, I know where I need to be now on Saturday and I have FP3 to still get back into it. It's one of those things in Monaco that happens."

When it was suggested Stroll has been involved in a number of incidents this season, the Canadian defended his record, saying he has made fewer errors himself since the start of the opening race.

"When was the last time I crashed? I don't think I had that many. OK in winter testing I had a couple and then Australia I think was the last one that was my fault. It's been a few months now that I haven't touched a wall and here in Monaco a lot of drivers touch the wall.

"I think you've just got to get through them and look on the bright side. I think today was a great day – for my first time here I was pretty happy with the pace I had today. That's what I'm focusing on and I'm going to come back with on Saturday."

Teammate Felipe Massa agreed that Stroll had shown encouraging pace, with the pair having ended FP2 0.4s apart.

"First time in Monaco, man, these things can happen," Massa said. "He just hit the guardrail. Many people crash here in the first time. Welcome to Monaco, is maybe the right word. I think the only positive thing is that he was doing good lap times today. He was competitive, even more competitive than he was in Barcelona, a track that he knows. So that's the positive thing.

"But definitely Monaco is Monaco and you just need to understand it – whatever mistake, maybe can finish your session."