Lance Stroll was left with “wrists on fire” after lap 1 clash with Fernando Alonso

Even though he was allowed to race in Bahrain, Lance Stroll's wrists hadn't fully recovered, and they were on fire after he collided with Fernando Alonso.

Lance Stroll was left with “wrists on fire” after lap 1 clash with Fernando Alonso

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll was in a cycling accident a few days before pre-season testing, which meant he was ruled out of that. It was expected that he would miss the start of the season as well. He underwent surgery on his left wrist and later revealed that he had broken his toe. Apparently, his doctors expected him to be back ready by around the time of the Australian Grand Prix.

The news that he will participate in the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend was certainly a surprise. But this doesn’t mean he was fully healed, far from it, in fact – he sometimes pushed the steering wheel with his left hand, in order to protect his injured right wrist. At the end of the second practice session, he was also seen being helped out of the car. So, many wondered whether he should be allowed to race in a situation, and deemed it dangerous.

https://youtu.be/OXWFFukX2Tc

But even if he hadn’t fully recovered, he performed valiantly during the race, and finished P6, even if his teammate Fernando Alonso was up in P3. The two actually came together on the first lap, after Stroll rear-ended Alonso’s car when trying to overtake Lewis Hamilton. But thankfully, there was no lasting damage, even if both drivers momentarily lost places.

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When asked about the incident by Sky Sports, the Canadian driver said: “It was really terrible timing honestly. I was going on the inside of Russell, trying to stay in front of him, braked late, Fernando went for the cutback on Lewis, really stopped the car in the middle of Turn 4 and we just came together. Really horrible timing for all those things to happen with the great car we had today. Very fortunately we both saved it and went onto have a good race.”

Read More: Lance Stroll reveals he was ‘ruled out’ of F1 until Australian GP

Lance Stroll was “shedding a few tears” after his incident with Fernando Alonso

Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll

After the incident, both lost places but recovered. Lance Stroll was able to pass and hold off George Russell till the end and split the Mercedes duo. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, went one step further. The Spaniard finished on the podium after two spectacular overtakes: one on Carlos Sainz and one on Lewis Hamilton. So, while this collission had only a minor impact on their race, it did have quite an impact on Stroll’s wrists.

The Canadian driver put it out that his wrists were ‘on fire’ after the incident. He said: “My wrists were on fire after that, I was shedding a few tears after that one. Most importantly we both stayed on track and went onto have a good race. Dodged a bullet for sure.” For braving through his injury and then further pain from the incident, one can only applaud Stroll.

Aston Martin have started the season very well. Much better than anyone would have expected before pre-season testing. It’s fair to say that they had the second-best car on race pace in Bahrain, but it’ll be interesting to see if this or how this changes in Jeddah. This result, and the car’s performance, gives the British team a lot to build on, and they may cement their credentials as a frontrunner soon enough.

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