Lance Stroll is one of Formula 1’s more enigmatic characters, meaning you don’t want to get in his way, quite literally in some cases.
The Aston Martin driver has long been an opinion divider due to his billionaire father Lawrence running the team, and he never gives much away to the media.
Yet in 2020 it was a mechanic who felt his full force, albeit accidentally.
The Canadian began the season with a retirement before a career-best seven-straight point finishes that saw two fourth places and the run ended with a third.
However, a very heavy crash in his Racing Point at Mugello was followed by an embarrassing spin in Russia.
COVID then took him out of the Nurburgring and then crashes with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Portugal piled the pressure back on Stroll like never before.
Feeling the heat in Imola, where F1 returns this weekend for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, unfortunately Stroll’s brakes weren’t so hot.
Things went wrong early in qualifying when he missed the chance to get out of the second session as his hot lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him a disappointing 15th.
Then, on Sunday, things instantly went from bad to worse as a tangle with Esteban Ocon’s Renault left his pink Racing Point in need of front wing repair.
That pitstop went OK, but it was his later effort that saw the now 26-year-old overshoot his box, sending the mechanic at the front of the car flying.
The front jack man was seen limping back to the garage with the help of his colleagues, and he then was checked over by medical staff present.
Thankfully, Racing Point then released a statement saying the member of staff was only ‘bruised’ and ‘nothing serious’ had happened.
Stroll, on his part, was soon asked about it after a disappointing 13th place finish behind teammate Sergio Perez in sixth.
“At the final pitstop, I had really cold brakes and that meant I overshot the pit box. I’m really glad to hear that my mechanic is OK – that’s the most important thing,” he said.
Next time out, it was clear the drama was forgotten, as said mechanic practiced pitstops hilariously wearing a giant inflatable ball.
Stroll clearly had plenty of sympathy for the team member too, who helped him recover his early season form to later record his second podium in Bahrain and remarkable first-ever pole position in Turkey.
Yet the Montreal born talent isn’t afraid of getting physical with team members, especially personal trainer Henry Howe.
The 2023 season was with the team rebranded as Aston Martin, and it was Stroll’s first with the thankless task of competing with two-time champion Fernando Alonso as his teammate.
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The Spaniard trounced him throughout the campaign, recording eight podiums and finishing fourth in the drivers’ standings as opposed to Stroll’s tenth-place finish.
Being shown up by Alonso would push anyone to the edge, especially someone as competitive as Stroll, and that was shown in Qatar after he crashed out in the first qualifying session.
Returning to his garage, trainer Howe was seen telling the Canadian he had to walk out the front to get weighed, and Stroll responded by shoving him against the wall.
The moment was picked up by the cameras, and Stroll later apologised, but pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz would reveal that wasn’t the last of it.
“Henry was trying to get him to go out the front of the garage to do the walk of shame down to the FIA weighbridge,” he explained.
“That’s why Lance, all full of emotion and adrenaline, disappointed in himself, Lance is his own harshest critic, was really annoyed that he hadn’t performed himself and in a moment pushed away his trainer Henry.
“He says he’s apologised to Henry, but he says they’re like brothers and Henry is going to get his own back on Lance when he next puts him through one of his training sessions.
“Lance is absolutely sure that Henry will have his revenge on the push, which didn’t look cool for Lance Stroll, but Lance has apologised about it to Henry.
“So he said that they’ve all moved on and you can understand that even though it wasn’t a cool look, that when they’re as close as they are, as a driver always is to his trainer, that these things can happen in the heat of the moment.
“So yeah, don’t beat up Lance Stroll too much, because he’s beating himself up even more.”
Let’s hope he didn’t have the same self punishment with the Imola mechanic…
