Aston Martin's Lance Stroll Drops Out Of Spanish GP With Injury
The team indicated that the injury stems from a 2023 cycling accident
A nagging injury sustained a couple of years ago will keep Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll out of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, according to the F1 team.
The news broke hours after the Canadian driver took part in qualifying. Stroll, who qualified P14, was summoned to the stewards for not getting weighed after he was knocked out of qualifying. However, Racer's Chris Medland reported that the hearing was put on hold because of "unforeseen circumstances."
Well, it turns out that those circumstances had to do with pain in Stroll's hand and wrist.
"Over the course of the past six weeks Lance has been experiencing pain in his hand and wrist, which his medical consultant believes is in relation to the procedure he underwent in 2023," Aston Martin said in a statement. "As a result his medical team have confirmed that he will not race tomorrow and he will undergo a procedure to rectify these issues before focusing on his recovery."
The procedure the team alluded to came after Stroll sustained injuries after an off-season cycling incident ahead of the 2023 F1 season. While there were concerns that Stroll would miss some races, but gutted through the pain and was back in time for the season-opening race in Bahrain.
However, it sounds like that injury has been nagging him, especially recently, and that has ruled him out of the race.
High marks to Stroll for gutting it out in qualifying (he is a Hockey Guy, after all), but in a way, it would have been better for the team if he had bowed out earlier. That's because the team can't call on one of their reserve drivers — sportscar driver Felipe Drugovich or ex-McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne — because they weren't in the car for qualifying.
Of course, it can be tough to score points from P14 even on a track like Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which does offer some overtaking opportunities, but you certainly can't score without entering the race.
Aston Martin did not provide a time frame for Stroll's recovery. Hopefully, he is back in action soon, as the next race weekend is June 13 through 15 in Canada, which is his home race.