Lance Stroll endured a difficult afternoon at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP after early contact left his car damaged and a developing brake issue compromised the remainder of his race.
The Aston Martin driver was involved in an incident with Valtteri Bottas at the start, which led to floor damage that cost the car a significant amount of downforce. Compounding matters, Stroll also reported a long brake pedal developing as the race wore on, forcing him to manage lock-ups for the remainder of the Grand Prix before retiring.
Stroll details damage and brake trouble in 2026 F1 Spanish GP
Speaking after the race in the print media pen, Stroll explained that the opening-lap incident had a significant impact on the car’s performance from early on.
The brake issues eventually led to him going down the turn 20 run-off on lap 13. He was unable to get back on track and his day was done. Inadvertently, this caused a huge switch at the front under the VSC to remove his AMR26.
“We had some damage after lap one, some debris, so we lost like 40 or 50 points of downforce. And then we had some brake issues during the race, the pedal was going really long, so locked up. We had the long pedal, we had the damage, tried to spin it around, had no power to spin it around, so our race was slowly just degrading,” Stroll said.
He added that he believed the damage was sustained at turn 1, though he was not entirely certain and said the team would need to review the incident further.
Stroll reflects on a difficult weekend overall at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP
Beyond the race-specific issues, Stroll acknowledged that Aston Martin’s broader performance limitations made the weekend challenging regardless of the opening-lap contact.
“It’s always going to be difficult when you’re lacking a lot of power and you have reliability issues and we’re not where we want to be on downforce and all that stuff. So, you know, until we make all these things better, it’s going to be difficult,” Stroll said.
Looking ahead to the next round, which features a layout with more high-speed straights, Stroll suggested the characteristics of that circuit could expose Aston Martin’s power deficit even further.
“It should be worse on paper, so it will be worse for sure, with all the straights, with no power,” Stroll said.
Stroll calls for changes to improve overtaking
Reflecting on the 2026 F1 Spanish GP as a spectacle, Stroll was also asked for his verdict on a race that produced little overtaking. He suggested that changes to the circuit layout could help improve racing in future.
“We need some good braking zones, some hairpins, maybe instead of that turn 5 chicane, like a hairpin or something, we can dive down the inside,” Stroll said.
