Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll unleashed his frustration in the pit garage in Qatar, leading to an altercation with his personal trainer, Henry Howe.
Stroll’s weekend in Qatar was riddled with challenges, culminating in his inability to secure a single point.
The weekend started on a disappointing note for Stroll as he failed to advance beyond Q1 during Friday night’s qualifying session, leaving him with a mountain to climb on race day.
After his night’s work was cut short, Stroll’s frustration became evident when he angrily tossed his valuable £20,000 steering wheel onto the nose of his AMR23, potentially causing damage to the equipment and scratching the car’s surface.
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However, the situation escalated further when Henry Howe, his trainer, approached him.
Stroll was captured on camera shoving Howe out of his way in a fit of frustration.
Commenting on the incident, former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard sympathised with Stroll, saying, “That is a meltdown which I feel for him.
“That’s not something I thought I would say very often for Lance, but he’s just getting absolutely hammered by Fernando Alonso, and he’s had a meltdown.
“His trainer is just trying to do his job, which is to get him to the scales.”
Aston Martin’s drivers have had vastly different seasons, with Fernando Alonso sitting fourth in the Drivers’ standings with 183 points, while Stroll has only managed to accumulate 47 points.
When asked about the incident, Mark Webber, another former F1 race winner, stated, “No, absolutely not. The trainer was doing his best.
“You’ve got to go to the scale like this is regulation.
“Tricky session, he’s going to have to go through the admin of the sport.
“But ultimately he just lost his cool.
“And he’s in a tough situation.
“And I feel for him too.
“I actually feel for him right now; he’s under the pump.”
Notably, while similar altercations in the paddock have resulted in disciplinary actions, Formula 1 has yet to make an official comment on Stroll’s behavior.
Despite the highly publicised incident, Stroll downplayed the altercation with his trainer, emphasising their close relationship.
He stated, “We’re good. He’s a bro.
“We go through the frustration together.
“We ride together. So, we’re cool.”
Leaving Qatar without a single point added to his tally, Stroll’s point drought extended to five races, dating back to the Belgian Grand Prix in July.
Speaking about his struggles, Stroll admitted, “I’m just struggling with the car and just getting to grips with the balance.
“I’m just not able to extract performance from it right now, which is difficult and frustrating.
“We’re in a rut and it’s not getting better.
“Frustration is in the whole group right now. We want to do better, we want to get better.
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“But it’s just a struggle right now.
“I feel like I can’t really lean on the car and drive it with confidence without mishaps and understeer.
“And [there is a] balance that I really don’t particularly enjoy driving.”