Lance Stroll withdrew from the Spanish GP last minute two weeks ago over a wrist injury, but the Canadian confirmed he will be back in his Aston Martin cockpit for his home F1 race.
Procedure done and ready to go
On Wednesday, Aston Martin released a statement that Stroll will return to his AMR25 after a successful medical procedure. Stroll completed some laps in an older F1 car at Circuit Paul Ricard and said he is “excited” to get back behind the wheel for the Canadian GP.
“I am excited to get back behind the wheel with the team for my home Grand Prix this weekend. I was always going to fight hard to be ready to race in front of the Montréal crowd.
“I’m feeling good after my procedure and put some laps in at Paul Ricard this week to prepare. Thanks for all the support, see you guys this weekend!“
At Thursday’s press conference, Stroll was asked how his wrist was.
“Thanks. Yeah, it’s good to be here. It’s good to be home, racing in Montréal. The wrist is feeling good.”
It won’t be a recurring problem
Stroll was asked how confident the injury would not be a recurring problem. The three-time podium-sitter was “confident” and felt “pretty good” ahead of the Canadian GP.
“Pretty confident. Should be good.”
Stroll explained that the injury has been bothering him since Imola and then Monaco, but it peaked at the Spanish GP. He felt he was ready to go after completing the Paul Ricard test.
“Yeah. Just because it was bothering me for a few weeks, over in Imola, Monaco. And then Barcelona was just really brutal throughout the weekend.
“I got a procedure done and drove this week, and I was feeling pretty good, so I’m confident.”
Stroll refused to get into the details of his injury, just attributing it to something that bugged him again.
“It’s just the old injury that I had a couple [of] years ago. Just started to bug me again and, you know, so just got it sorted.
“Yeah. I was frustrated for sure [regarding a report he lost his temper in Spain]. Frustrated about my wrist and the last three races from Imola. It was just inhibiting my driving. So I knew that Sunday was going to be tricky, probably impossible. And at that point, I was pretty frustrated about it.”
Stroll felt optimistic about Aston Martin’s chances in the Canadian GP thanks to the upgrade package the team brought in at Imola.
“I’m feeling good about the weekend for sure. I think historically we’ve been good here as a team. We scored points here the last few times we came, and it’s a track I always enjoy coming back to. So yeah, just looking forward to it.”
