Stroll gearing up to a fresh start after 2023 injuries

12 February 2024 - 13:58 By Reuters
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Lance Stroll finished the 2023 Formula One season 10th with 74 points.
Lance Stroll finished the 2023 Formula One season 10th with 74 points.
Image: Aston Martin F1

Lance Stroll made light of last year's agonies as the Aston Martin driver looked forward to starting a Formula One season without injuries.

The 25-year-old Canadian, son of billionaire team owner Lawrence, turned up at the 2023 opener in Bahrain with a broken big toe and wrists after a cycling accident in Spain two weeks earlier.

“My apartment is stacked with pillows and I'm not allowed to leave,” he joked when asked ahead of his team's new car launch on Monday what precautions he was taking in training for the season starting on March 2.

“I'm running. I'm watching my step while I run. No ankle twisting, none of that funny business. Just running in a straight stride.

“Looking after my limbs and I want to get to Bahrain testing this year.”

The photographs on social media of Stroll snowboarding through a forest in January suggested a slightly different story.

“I enjoyed a bit of time off with friends and family, eating a few more doughnuts and drinking a few more beers but training hard and I'm ready to get back to racing,” he said about the winter break.

As well as skiing in Western Canada, he said he had also spent a lot of time reflecting on last season and thinking about how to come back stronger.

Team mate Fernando Alonso was on the podium eight times last year and finished fourth overall with 206 points. Stroll was 10th and scored only 74.

“Last year for sure he was just quicker,” said Stroll.

“I have some ideas where to work on some things I want to improve on.

“I think we had a lot of misfortune last year and that kind of made things more challenging,” he said.

“There were a lot of races where we had technical issues. Things just didn't go our way.

“Testing is important to get an idea what the car's doing. I'll be at testing this year and having that is definitely going to be helpful. Two healthy wrists make life a bit easier in a race car.”


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