(Motorsports news) Stroll’s emotions reached a boiling point after being eliminated in Q1 during Friday qualifying at Losail. He seemed to shove his trainer Henry Howe as he sought to direct his driver to get weighed in parc ferme while screaming out the back of the garage.
Stroll’s behavior was reviewed by the FIA’s Compliance Officer, who issued him a formal warning “reminding Lance of his responsibilities as a competitor bound by the FIA Code of Ethics.” According to the FIA’s statement, it “maintains a zero-tolerance stance against misconduct and condemns any actions that may lead to physical harassment.”
Stroll’s outburst occurred following yet another miserable weekend, which saw him extend his skid of scoreless grand prix weekends to five, while his lead over teammate Fernando Alonso ballooned to a whopping 136 points. The divisive Canadian’s behavior sparked much controversy among fans and onlookers, but Aston Martin’s manager Krack has explained why the team isn’t as concerned about the event as people on the outside are.
“You accumulate delivering below your own expectations and then the theme of frustration comes on at one point,” Krack went on to say. “When you take a football player off the field, he doesn’t give the manager a high five; he throws the jersey or throws the water bottles; we’ve seen that a lot.”
“And to be honest, I always try to delay this media session as much as possible to just try and get rid of the adrenaline, but I’m sure we run maybe 10 to 20 times less adrenaline on the pitwall than the drivers but you put the microphone straight away in front of them or you gauge every reaction that they do.”
“From the outside, it appears simple. “I believe we pass judgment too quickly.” The Stroll incident was compared to Max Verstappen shoving Esteban Ocon at the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix, for which the Dutchman was fined two days of public service by the FIA. However, that event entailed violent behavior toward competitors rather than an inside altercation captured on the public broadcast.
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