Aston Martin have withdrawn Lance Stroll from today’s Singapore Grand Prix, after the Canadian crashed heavily during qualifying, lucky to walk away without injury from a totally wrecked race car.
The impact, which occurred on the final turn, was such that it destroyed the front of the Aston Martin while creating damage to the wall that needed repair after the shunt before the Qualy session resumed.
Stroll has had an awkward season thus far, comprehensively outdriven by Fernando Alonso in the sister car, while his season got off to an unfortunate start when he was involved in a bicycle accident, that forced him to sit out of Bahrain pre-season testing.
Regarding the crash on Saturday at Marina Bay Circuit and aftermath, Aston Martin team released the following statement:
Following Lance’s crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, Lance and the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team have jointly agreed that he will not participate in this evening’s race. The team face a huge job repairing the car today and Lance is still sore following such a high impact. Lance’s focus now shifts to fully recovering ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Mike Krack, Team Principal, AMF1 Team, said: “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.
“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,” added Krack in the statement.