Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack believes that Lance Stroll’s huge crash during qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend is proof that he’s committed to Formula 1, following recent criticism.
Stroll endured one of the biggest shunts of the season at the death of Q1 last Saturday at the Marina Bay Circuit, where he was pushing to the absolute limit to progress to Q2.
Knowing that he was down on the time he needed, the Canadian pushed too hard in the final corner to try and make some time up, something which resulted in him running over too much of the kerb on the outside of the circuit.
This immediately unsettled his AMR23, causing it to snap at high-speed on the driver.
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Stroll’s car then snapped back the other way when trying to correct it, sending him straight into the barrier at high-speed.
His car bounced off the barrier and came to rest in the middle of the track, at least what was left of it.
Stroll’s AMR23 was completely destroyed, with a lengthy red flag having been required to clear the wreckage.
Despite the disappointment surrounding Stroll’s crash, Krack at least noted that it proves just how committed Stroll is, following criticism that he’s simply making up the numbers.
“It’s proof that he’s full in. So, for all the guys that are thinking he’s not, to go into this corner at that speed, you have to have some commitment,” Krack told Autosport.
“I think this is another proof that he fully has it.”
Whilst he was miraculously released from the medical centre in rapid fashion to complete his media duties, Stroll didn’t compete in the race on Sunday, due to unsurprisingly not feeling 100%.
Nevertheless, Krack thinks that Stroll attending his post-qualifying media duties showed how strong he is as a person.
“Lance is very strong. He’s much, much stronger than people think,” Krack said.
“You have seen him [carry out media duties after his crash]. I’m not concerned at all… he will be fine.”
There are absolutely no concerns about Stroll’s participation in the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, which he will contest.
Stroll was rested in Singapore purely as a precaution to not aggravate an injury, with the next few days giving him a chance to rest his muscles which were more than thrown about in the crash.
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“He is generally sore. If you have an incident like that, you have to think that you stress your muscles everywhere,” Krack added.
“It’s like if you spend a very hard day in the gym, you feel not great. I think it’s the right decision to be ready for Japan.
“The most important thing is that he’s fine. Anything else is secondary.”