Lance Stroll will compete in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix with screws in the wrist he injured in a cycling crash two weeks ago.
Aston Martin confirmed today their driver will return to the car for this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix having missed last week’s three-day test due to his injury.
Stroll had surgery on his right wrist, which sustained the greatest damage when he came off his bike. He said his left wrist was also “banged up” in the crash.
He told media in Bahrain the cast was removed one week ago but still has screws in place to help it heal and it hasn’t yet been decided when they will be taken out. “The doctors said we’ll reassess,” Stroll explained. “They could come out, they could stay in, depends on how [I’m] feeling down the line.”
Aston Martin had put reserve driver Felipe Drugovich on standby to take over Stroll’s car if needed. Speaking in the Bahrain paddock Stroll said it had taken “a big push in the last 12 days since my accident to get me here.”
“It was a day-by-day thing,” he explained. “With these injuries it’s always hard to tell. There is not a really quick answer how long it will take.”
He admitted he was unsure at first whether he would be able to return. “The first few days were rough. It looked like it was going to be tough.
“But then the last four or five days, it’s really like been improving a lot every day. And I’ve still got 20 hours or something so every hour and minute helps.”
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Stroll has done several sessions in the team’s simulator to ensure his wrists are up to the demands of driving. “I was feeling good in the sim yesterday,” he said. “Full lock and all the range of motion feels good.”
“We turned up the steering strength and I felt good winding on the lock and going over bumps and all those things,” he added. “It hurts a bit, but it feels good, it feels solid and nothing that I haven’t had before.”
He said he felt “jealous” watching team mate Fernando Alonso test Aston Martin’s new car last week. “It’s never ideal missing days in a Formula 1 car,” said Stroll. “We don’t get many days outside the race weekends.
“So not ideal but I can’t focus on that now, it’s done. I’m just going to focus on getting into the best rhythm I can, straight into FP1 and go from there.”
He insisted he hasn’t put his safety at risk by rushing to return to the cockpit. “I just want to have every chance to go racing,” he said. “If I feel like I’m fit enough to race with a bit of discomfort, I’m going to do it.
“Professional athletes in every sport sometimes are in a bit of discomfort. If I felt like it was not smart, if I felt like it was a risk of injuring myself more, if I felt like my bones just weren’t ready, I wouldn’t do it.
“I think Formula 1 is a long season, there’s 23 races, it’s not all about being in Bahrain. But I do feel confident, the doctors feel confident and here I am.”
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