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Lance Stroll will miss the entirety of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain after bike accident while training in Spain: Canadian Aston Martin driver suffered ‘minor injuries’
Canadian Formula One driver Lance Stroll will miss all of pre-season testing after a ‘minor accident’ on a bicycle in Spain.
In a statement, the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One team confirmed the incident and its impact on testing.
“While training pre-season on bikes in Spain, Lance Stroll was involved in a minor accident and sustained injuries that will sideline him for pre-season testing in Bahrain,” the team statement read.
‘However, Lance hopes for a speedy recovery and a return to driving duties. His fitness to return to the cockpit will be assessed daily and an update will be issued by the team ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“The team wishes Lance a speedy recovery and looks forward to his usual energy and commitment within the team.”
Canadian Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll will miss all F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain
Stroll also issued a statement via the team, saying: ‘I had an unfortunate accident while training on my bike to prepare for the season.
I am determined to get back in the car and am excited about the season ahead with the team. I am motivated to recover from this setback as quickly as possible.”
It will surely be a major setback for the Canadian, who will be sidelined during an important time for teams to develop their cars.
This comes at an unfortunate time: testing will begin this Wednesday at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. It is unclear if Stroll will be healthy in time for the first grand prix of the season, which will also take place in Bahrain.
Testing proves to be a time when drivers can better understand and operate their machines, allowing them to pass information back to the teams to tune their cars in their favor.
Stroll will miss out on that, which could hurt his chances of improving on last season’s standings for both his driver and his constructor.
In the 2022 Formula One World Championship, Stroll finished 15th in the standings, with top ten finishes in eight races and two 18-point retirements.
His since-retired teammate Sebastian Vettel finished 12th after missing the first two races of the season with COVID, but still managed ten top-10 finishes and 37 points. Stroll also finished behind his now teammate Fernando Alonso, who alone failed to score points in eight races and finished the season ninth in the standings.
As a constructor, Aston Martin finished seventh in the standings, level on points, but behind Alfa Romeo.
Stroll will lose valuable time behind the wheel to improve his chances of a better result.
Aston Martin have not confirmed who could take Stroll’s place this week.
While Stroll recovers, Aston Martin could choose to call on any of its reserve drivers
Aston Martin has yet to announce who could take Stroll’s place during testing which begins on Wednesday and ends on Friday.
The team has two reserve drivers: 2022 Formula Two champion Felipe Drugovich of Brazil and former McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium.
Vandoorne has not been in a Formula One car since leaving McLaren as its second driver behind Alonso in 2018.
Drugovich put a few laps in Aston’s 2021 car at Silverstone last year, as well as his 2022 machine during free practice at last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.