We knew that Quebecer Lance Stroll came very close to not competing in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but we did not know the pitfalls he had to overcome to achieve this.
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On Tuesday, the Aston Martin team driver revealed he suffered a fracture and dislocation in his right wrist, a sprain in his left wrist, a partial sprain in his left hand and a bill to his right big toe.
Stroll inflicted these painful injuries on February 18, in a bicycle accident in Spain. Two days later, his team published a press release on this subject, without specifying the nature of the damage. He then failed the preparatory tests for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
“With the start of the season upon us, the timing couldn’t be worse,” Stroll wrote in a lengthy text that accompanied a video posted to Twitter.
“At first, my medical team believed that I was not only going to miss the tests, but also the first races.”
Operation
The driver then explained that he went under the knife for his right wrist 48 hours after his accident and only 12 days before the first race of the year held on Sunday.
“The job wasn’t done though,” Stroll continued. Unfortunately, Dr. Mir explained to me that the fractures in my wrist and my left hand required a more conservative approach to take the time to heal.
“My medical team made sure we did everything we could to get my bones to heal. It became my full-time job to try and combine whatever helped, even if it only improved my odds by 0.5%.
Stroll’s efforts finally paid off, as he was in his car to challenge for victory in Bahrain. He also scored points in the drivers’ standings, having finished the race in sixth place. Austin Martin had an excellent Grand Prix thanks in particular to Fernando Alonso who took third place.