Aston Martin confirms: if Stroll is not fit, Drugovich will drive
For now, Aston Martin is not deciding on its line-up for the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is patiently waiting to see if Lance Stroll is able to compete there. However, the possible replacement has been announced.
Stroll or Drugovich in Bahrain
Stroll did not appear in action on behalf of Aston Martin during the winter test in Bahrain. The Canadian had suffered an injury to his wrist(s) in a cycling accident. As a result, Felipe Drugovich took over the wheel as the team's reserve driver. However, for The Bahrain GP, the team is yet to make a decision.
On its Twitter account, the British team reveals that it wants to give Stroll as long as possible to recover from his injury. If he does become capable of racing, the team will give him that chance. However, the team did confirm that Drugovich will be the one to replace Stroll if he is unable to race. Rumours about the return of Sebastian Vettel, a chance for Stoffel Vandoorne or a switch of Mick Schumacher are thus quashed.
This is the best choice for Aston Martin. Drugovich is a smart driver and the team itself will gain from it as he will better be able to judge whether the simulator performs as the actual car does.
A broken wrist takes 6-8 weeks before the cast is removed. There are many small bones in the wrist that don't heal so fast.
Depending on when he broke it, he'll likely miss the first 2 races. It also causes weakness in the wrist so he'll need to rehab that.
The last thing he needs to do is to rush and re-break it
We have already seen Stroll racing in the car for a couple of seasons and know his standard, they should allow Drugovich to have one full race weekend in the car and see how well he does and if he is clearly a better driver, then AM should really consider having a better driver in the team if they are serious of winning a championship and not persevere with one just because he happens to be the bosses son.
I agree. Won't happen, but I agree. I so badly want to root for AM. Just can't get past the pappa Stroll factor, though.
Popular on GPBlog
Why Alonso thinks Verstappen is the best driver in Formula 1
Piastri responds to Verstappen's comments about dominating in a McLaren
Verstappen on McLaren flexi-wing images: 'People see what I see'
