Lance retires after showing promise in Saudi Arabia

The Canadian racer returned to the cockpit earlier in March with a sensational sixth in Bahrain and looked to build momentum in the second round of the 2023 campaign.

He spent Friday’s practice window refining the setup of Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team’s AMR23 and turned just shy of 50 laps of the high-speed venue.

With fourth in FP1, seventh in FP2, and fourth again in FP3, all eyes were set upon qualifying where Lance continued to extract every ounce of pace from his machinery.

Competitive outings in Q1 and Q2 paved his path to the pole position shootout, and by improving his own personal best lap to a 1:28.945, he secured sixth at the close of the session.

A grid penalty for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc promoted Lance to fifth on the starting grid, and with a characteristic strong getaway, he immediately applied pressure on Carlos Sainz.

By darting around the outside of the Spaniard in Turn 13, Lance performed a spectacular overtake to advance to fourth on the opening lap.

From here, Lance maintained position and started to apply pressure on Mercedes’ George Russell for third but was forced to retire after encountering a mechanical problem on lap 17 of 50.

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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team Driver

“It was disappointing to retire from the Grand Prix after such a promising weekend. I had a great start and really enjoyed overtaking Carlos [Sainz] around the outside of Turn 13. We were in a good position on track and I was having fun pushing, but then I started experiencing reduced power and got the call to stop the car. It is not the result we wanted, but we leave Saudi Arabia knowing that we have a very competitive car and we will pick up the fight next time out in Australia.”

Lance will return to action on Sunday, April 2, for the for the 2023 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.