The FIA is in discussions with Lance Stroll over “several incidents” at the Qatar Grand Prix that may have gone against the governing body’s rules and procedures.
Stroll was captured on video pushing his performance coach Henry Howe after he tried to stop the Aston Martin driver from walking out of the back of the garage following his Q1 elimination in qualifying on Friday; the driver having already thrown his steering wheel out of the car in frustration. Drivers are told to walk up the pit lane to be weighed after qualifying to ensure they are in full view of the FIA throughout, and do not pass through the rear of the garage.
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In his interview that followed, Stroll offered just eight words in total in response to three questions – including a curseword to describe his emotions – and while he insisted on Saturday that he and Howe are on good terms, he added that he would be unlikely to handle his frustration better in future as he added: “I f***ing hate having a bad day, I’m not going to change”.
Then after finishing ninth in Sunday’s race but being demoted to 11th by multiple track limits infringements, Stroll suggested he had been close to losing consciousness in the hot and humid conditions that affected multiple drivers.
“It’s ridiculous,” he told Sky Sports after the race. “These temperatures… Everything goes blurry. The last 25/30 laps was just blurry in the high-speed corners, blood pressure dropping and just passing out basically in the car in the high-speed corners with high G-forces.
“And then the curbs now are painted because they were worried about punctures with these high-loaded G-force corners and the tires, they painted the curbs to make the track even narrower, so you’re reliant just on your visual references to be outside of the track and what that is. But the last 20/25 laps you can’t really see anything because you’re just fainting as you go through those corners.”
Without offering any specific reasoning for why Stroll has been approached, the FIA confirmed there are multiple issues that it is keen to talk to him about.
“The FIA Compliance Officer is in discussion with Lance Stroll in relation to several incidents that may have contravened FIA rules, policies and procedures during the Qatar Grand Prix,” an FIA spokesperson said.
The FIA’s Compliance Officer’s remit includes matters such as enforcing the FIA Code of Ethics and investigating alleged concerns of misconduct.
Aston Martin told RACER it cannot comment about the situation while the discussions are ongoing.