“I had to grit my teeth to get through,” says Lance Stroll. And that’s no wonder: two weeks before the start of the 2023 Formula 1 season in Bahrain, Stroll had injured his wrists and toes in a bicycle accident, and suffered broken bones in some cases. He therefore missed all of the winter tests, but took part in the first Grand Prix of the year as usual – and finished sixth!
What’s more: Stroll in the Aston Martin AMR23 took on the Mercedes drivers on the track and left George Russell behind in the battle for positions. “I’m satisfied with sixth place,” he says himself. “Especially when you consider everything that’s happened in the past two weeks.”
At first he didn’t think he was even operational, says Stroll. “Ten days ago I couldn’t move at all, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move my hands. I was just a vegetable. And I didn’t expect to be here now.”
The events of the past few days and hours must therefore “first sink in,” says Stroll. “But yes, it’s great to take the points, to drive this car.” It was a “great start” to the 2023 Formula 1 season for him and his team, where Fernando Alonso finished P3 in the other Aston Martin.
“I was just trying to get by”
And Stroll could have finished in the top 5 too. He himself is at least convinced that Lewis Hamilton was within reach in the other Mercedes. “Without the virtual safety car we could have gotten him,” he says. “But we lost time there.”
Stroll also admits that his injuries became more noticeable in the final third of the race. “The last 20 laps” were the worst part of his race, “the pain [waren] my biggest limitation,” he says.
Above all, “the hairpin bends”, says Stroll, were difficult for him to master, specifically he names curve 10 at the beginning of the back straight. There he had already gone off the track in the warm-up lap and there he slipped off the line again shortly before the end of the race and into the run-off zone, both times without consequences for his final position in the Grand Prix.
“I had trouble giving in with confidence. I was just trying to get through,” explains Stroll. “Because even with adrenaline, broken bones still hurt.”
In contrast to training in Bahrain, when he sometimes only had one hand on the steering wheel, he was able to operate the steering wheel with both hands during the race. “I felt a little better,” says Stroll. “The team also optimized the power steering for me to make it a little easier.”
Team boss Krack praises Stroll
In the end there are eight points for the overall World Cup standings. And Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack thinks Stroll’s performance “cannot be praised enough”.
Krack continues: “One must also not forget that he has not tested a kilometer. We had two tough races for the race [Reifensätze] saved it, he hadn’t driven it either. He’d never had the chance to drive them. And then you come to a track where it’s all about tire management. To do it like that, with George breathing down my neck the whole race…”
According to Krack, Aston Martin, like Stroll himself, speculated on even more, wanted to attack both Hamilton and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. “But Lance’s tires were among the oldest,” says Krack. “And after the slip at turn 10 we said, let’s go, let’s bring this home. But hats off!”
By the way, Krack fails to mention that Stroll almost shot down his teammate Alonso right at the beginning of the race in the starting phase. During the race, according to “Sky” England, Aston Martin also refrained from informing Alonso who had touched him, despite repeated inquiries. Stroll himself says nothing about this either.
“I feel better every day”
However, the Formula 1 driver refers to his “incredible” support staff, which made it possible for him to participate in Bahrain in the first place. For example, Stroll mentions Dr. Xavier Mir, who operated on him immediately after the accident. “I couldn’t have been here without him,” says Stroll.
He also expressly thanks his osteopath Henry, “who spent ten hours a day with me to get my wrists and toes in the best possible shape. After all, you can’t do without toes,” says Stroll.
“The list of my helpers is long. And at first I was told that it might be Australia,” he explains. But Stroll didn’t miss anything important and even scored well in the first race. He therefore wants to use the short break until the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia for further recovery.
“I’m feeling better every day,” he says. “My right wrist is feeling really neat already. On the left wrist, with the hairline fractures in the bone, it’s a matter of time but it should get better. And my toes are feeling better every day.”