Lance Stroll will not race in tonight’s Singapore Grand Prix after his massive crash in qualifying on Saturday. The Canadian was trying to make it through to Q2 when he lost control in the high-speed final corner and hit the barrier heavily on the …
Lance Stroll will not race in tonight’s Singapore Grand Prix after his massive crash in qualifying on Saturday.
The Canadian was trying to make it through to Q2 when he lost control in the high-speed final corner and hit the barrier heavily on the outside of the track, severely damaging the car.
Although Stroll was able to climb out unaided and was subsequently cleared and released from the medical center, Aston Martin says he is still sore after the impact and with such a big repair job for the team the decision has been made to withdraw the car.
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“The whole team are relieved that Lance was able to step out of the car after yesterday’s accident – however, he is still feeling the after-effects of such a high-impact crash,” team principal Mike Krack said. “Our priority now is that he makes a full and speedy recovery.
“Together, we have decided that he will sit out this evening’s race and instead focus fully on returning to the cockpit for next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.”
Stroll will not be replaced in Singapore as his withdrawal came after qualifying and a replacement would need to have taken part in a practice or qualifying session to be able to drive. That leaves 19 cars on the grid for tonight’s race, and just one Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso starting from seventh.
The only race Stroll has missed in his seven-year Formula 1 career to date is the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix when he was withdrawn due to COVID, and he raced in Bahrain earlier this year despite fracturing both wrists and a toe a few weeks previously.
Lance Stroll says his huge crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix was a result of him taking extra risk at the end of a lap compromised by cold tires. The Aston Martin driver was on his final lap of Q1 when he had a snap of oversteer on …
Lance Stroll says his huge crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix was a result of him taking extra risk at the end of a lap compromised by cold tires.
The Aston Martin driver was on his final lap of Q1 when he had a snap of oversteer on the exit of the final corner, overcorrecting and hitting the barrier heavily at around 150mph. The car was severely damaged in the incident, with the front left corner ripping off and rolling across the track in front of Lando Norris, and Stroll says he was aware he was set to be eliminated so took more risk trying to find the required lap time.
“I’m OK,” Stroll said. “I’m frustrated as we have a big job — in the garage and on the racetrack — ahead of us. I was struggling for grip throughout the qualifying session. We had a bad out-lap with traffic ahead of my final push and we got stopped for the weigh bridge.
“I started a couple of seconds behind Pierre (Gasly), so it didn’t play out the way we’d planned. When I saw my lap wasn’t improving, I pushed really hard in the last corner to try and make up that extra time, and that’s when it went wrong. Let’s see what we can salvage tomorrow in the race.”
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With Stroll receiving the all-clear from the FIA medical center, team principal Mike Krack says the fact he wasn’t injured in such a heavy impact shows the safety levels that F1 has achieved.
“The only thing that matters today is that Lance is OK after the accident in qualifying,” Krack said. “To see him step out of the car unaided is a testament to the FIA’s constant work to improve safety. After some precautionary checks in the medical center, he was cleared and released.”
Stroll is currently 102 points behind Alonso in the World Driver’s Championship.
Formula 1 is often as much of a battle against your teammate as it is against the other drivers on the track, and Aston Martin driver [autotag]Lance Stroll[/autotag] knows this all too well.
Stroll’s teammate is no ordinary driver. He has to compete with two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, who is currently sitting in third place in the World Driver’s Championship after a string of podium finishes early in the year. And while many drivers wouldn’t be entirely honest about their struggles against their teammate, Stroll understands just how things have been at Aston Martin for 2023.
Stroll spoke to Motorsport Magazine‘s Chris Medland, and talked about his deficit to Fernando and what he intends to do after the summer break:
“I think this year is honestly a lot of things that are out of our control that have really affected us. And I think if we have clean weekends, the results will be better. That’s what I honestly believe, but also just getting more out of the car and driving a bit faster because right now Fernando has generally been faster than me. So I have to figure out how to go a little bit faster round the corners. Simple… That’s what we’re here to do, right?”
Although Stroll indeed has been slower than Vettel, his 2023 season has been admirable in a different kind of way. Stroll suffered an injury to both his wrists before the season opener in Bahrain, and he went through an intense process to be ready for it in time for race day. As Medland noted, his recovery from injury overlaps with the car’s best performance, so should it get upgrades for the Dutch Grand Prix, it’s possible his performance will improve.
Lance Stroll has called for changes to be made to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps after the death of Formula Regional driver Dilano Van ‘T Hoff on Saturday morning. Van ‘T Hoff was killed during the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine …
Lance Stroll has called for changes to be made to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps after the death of Formula Regional driver Dilano Van ‘T Hoff on Saturday morning.
Van ’T Hoff was killed during the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) second race at Spa, after crashing on the Kemmel Straight in wet conditions with spray affecting visibility. After incidents nearer the exit of Raidillon, the 18-year-old’s car came to a rest at a right-angle to the racing line and was struck at high speed in similar fashion to the crash that claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert at Spa in Formula 2 in 2019.
With both crashes occurring within a few hundred meters of each other, and multiple serious incidents in the same area, Stroll said following F1’s sprint race in Austria that the iconic Belgian circuit has to make changes.
“Story of the race isn’t today,” Stroll said. “We lost a young driver at Spa today, my thoughts are with him and his family. It’s not fair what happened, and that corner needs to be looked at and changed, because we lost two young talents in like five years — it needs to be changed.
“We’re going there in a few weeks — it’s horrible what happened today. We lost a member of the racing family, and seriously need to think about what to do with that corner as it’s never fun going through there. Every time we go through there we put our lives on the line; today we saw something bad happen. It’s not right.”
Stroll says talks have taken place before about trying to find ways of making the Eau Rouge and Raidillon section safer but action hasn’t followed quickly enough.
“Yeah we’ve discussed it but then it blows over — it needs to be changed,” he insisted. “They need to do something. You know, playing with fire, in a couple of weeks time, again, and not just us — F2 kids, F3 kids, everyone goes through that corner.
“We’re losing lives in that corner, it has to change. For me it’s not even a discussion.”
Pierre Gasly admitted he also has faced times he hasn’t felt safe racing through that section of track in difficult conditions.
“It does feel risky,” Gasly said. “The thing is it kinds of reminds me of situations I’ve been in the younger categories in Spa, in similar conditions, and being fully honest, there were times I did feel in massive danger just with poor visibility and various situations where it just feels pretty unsafe. But I don’t know exactly what happened.
“We do a risky sport, which is always going to remain risky whatever we do with the speed that we go at. It definitely needs a very deep investigation.”
Lance Stroll admits he needs to improve his performances heading into the Austrian Grand Prix but feels his results haven’t fully reflected his pace this season. Aston Martin is currently third in the constructors’ championship with 154 points, of …
Lance Stroll admits he needs to improve his performances heading into the Austrian Grand Prix but feels his results haven’t fully reflected his pace this season.
Aston Martin is currently third in the constructors’ championship with 154 points, of which Fernando Alonso has scored 117. Alonso’s results include six podiums while Stroll has a best finish of fourth in Australia, and after a run of 10 points from four races the Canadian says he needs to work on a number of areas now he’s recovered from his pre-season broken wrists.
“I think we started the season strong, all things considered,” Stroll said. “Bahrain, Jeddah, Melbourne I think were good, and then we hit a bit of a rough patch after Baku, but I know why. Miami was tough because we didn’t put the second set of tires on in Q1, Monaco we had some damage in Q2, Barcelona we were competitive again, then in Canada we had some issues in Q2.
“I think there’s been reasons why it hasn’t been good, but in terms of outright pace, he (Alonso)’s been more on top of it than me — he’s been quicker, he’s been driving incredibly well. I don’t think I’ve, or we’ve as a team, gotten the most out of our weekends, so don’t think it’s shown, some of the true results. There’s definitely some work to do, some things to improve, Fernando’s at a very high level and I’ve got to definitely work on a few things and get better.”
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Stroll believes there are small details that have cost him in many races this year but concedes Alonso — who he describes as “the best teammate I’ve ever had” — is able to get more pace out of the car than he has so far.
“It is details, and it is circumstances. Like in Miami trying to get out of Q1 on one set, he did the same as me — he just got through by a tenth and I missed it by a tenth, I’m 17th and he’s going to Q3. Same thing in Monaco, we had floor damage, you can’t recover — you start 12th, 13th and that cost us the weekend.
“Canada was a very tricky session, but when I look at the other weekends it’s been small details, things to work on, but he’s still been quicker, for sure. So I’m definitely focused on the things I’ve got to work on, and this weekend is another opportunity to do that.”
While Stroll feels a tenth here and there has cost him, he admits Alonso’s consistent pace has beyond his capability to match. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
The 24-year-old doesn’t feel his lack of pre-season testing has overly hurt his potential to get performance out of the 2023 Aston Martin, now that he is no longer feeling the effects of his broken wrists that hampered him in the opening rounds.
“I think it’s a combination of things — there’s things from the car you’re always looking for, things from me. Yeah, I missed a tremendous amount of testing at the beginning of the season, that’s always a big thing, but like, in all honesty, Fernando’s been at a really really high level and even when I felt like some of my best days were really good days, he’s been that little bit quicker.
“I think he’s been doing it his whole career, been getting the most out of every car he’s gotten in; even when they weren’t winning cars he’s been able to win with them. And he’s demonstrating that again this season with this car he’s pushing to the limit and finishing pretty much behind Max (Verstappen) every race. It’s very impressive and I’m definitely motivated to push and get to that level.
“I don’t want to make excuses. There’s been days I felt great in the car and didn’t feel like I missed anything from testing, and then days where you want to try something — I don’t know, a decision to make after FP3 and before parc ferme and you don’t know what direction to go in because those are all the things you do try in testing and you learn a little bit about how the car behaves here and there.
“So yes and no; it definitely doesn’t hurt to do more laps in an F1 car but I’m feeling good in the car when the setup is working well. I don’t think I’m missing anything from testing.”
