Stroll misses Spanish GP with injury after losing temper
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Lance Stroll qualified in 14th place for the Spanish Grand Prix
Andrew Benson
F1 Correspondent at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll missed the Spanish Grand Prix with injury, in the aftermath of losing his temper in the team's garage.
The Canadian is said by sources to have damaged equipment in the garage and sworn at team members after being eliminated at the end of the second qualifying session, in which he was 0.535 seconds slower than team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Asked to confirm Stroll had lost his temper in this way, an Aston Martin spokesperson said: "Lance was upset."
The spokesperson said the injury and the episode in the garage were unrelated.
An Aston Martin source later denied anything was broken or that Stroll swore at colleagues.
Aston Martin said Stroll would miss the Spanish Grand Prix because "has been experiencing pain in his hand and wrist".
The team said Stroll's medical consultant believed the discomfort was related to the operation he had in early 2023, when he broke both wrists in a cycling accident.
Stroll is to have an operation in an attempt to rectify the problem.
The situation puts his participation in his home race in Canada on 13-15 June in doubt.
If Stroll were to miss the race, it is not clear who would replace him as reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne are both racing at Le Mans on the same weekend.
Stroll was investigated by governing body the FIA after he failed to go to the driver weighing scales immediately after qualifying, as is required by the regulations.
The race stewards gave him an official warning for the omission.
The stewards' verdict said: "We reviewed the video footage from the garage which showed the driver of Car 18 [Stroll] exiting the car and leaving the garage from the back and not proceeding through the pit lane as required."
The stewards wrote that Stroll had sent them a letter explaining that "the reason for failing to immediately attend the weighing was because he was in pain and sought urgent medical attention for the pain.
"He attended the weigh-in and the media pen as soon as he was able to, before heading to the medical centre for further evaluation."
This is not the first Stroll has lost his temper as a result of a bad qualifying session.
In Qatar in 2023, he stormed out of the back of the garage and was involved in an altercation with his trainer as he left. He later
apologised for the incident.
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