Aston Martin coy on Stroll injury

A decision on whether Lance Stroll will line up for next weekend’s F1 Bahrain Grand Prix is not expected to be made until next week as Aston Martin is remaining coy on the extent of his injury.

Felipe Drugovich substituted for the injured Canadian who was ruled out of pre-season testing after a cycling incident while training.

“He was training, trying to improve or to work on his fitness last week,” said Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack of Stroll’s injury.

“So he was cycling and he had a small incident and hurt himself.

“For precautionary reasons, we decided it’s better to wait a little bit and be ready next week.”

That is in line with the team’s previous statements that Stroll is expected to be fit for next weekend’s race, although Krack remained cagey on the extent of his injuries.

That has only served to spark suggestions he could miss the event, putting Drugovich in the frame for a race berth along with the squad’s other reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

“This is his personal thing,” Krack responded when asked about the extent of Stroll’s injuries.

“So he is injured on the hand and wrist. I don’t want to go into detail because this is also privacy.”

Reserves on hand

Former F1 racer Vandoorne is this weekend racing in Formula E in Cape Town, leaving Drugovich to step into Stroll’s vacant seat.

“They’re evaluating every day,” Drugovich said of the situation.

“I can’t say much more than that because I really don’t know much more than that.

“I think me and Stoffel, we’re both assigned to come to this race, to Bahrain, so we will both be here if Lance won’t be able to recover.

“But it will be just a choice of the team just before the weekend. It’ll probably be a quick one because Lance is recovering, probably until next week, and we’ll make a decision.”

Drugovich drew the only red flag of the opening session of pre-season testing when an electrical gremlin saw him stop out on track in the AMR23.

The problem was soon rectified, with the Brazilian going on to log a total of 40 laps and ending the morning seventh fastest.