Lance retires from Japanese Grand Prix

Following on from a huge impact during qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, Lance took to the track for the first time since that impact on the high-speed curves of Suzuka. In 2022, he battled through difficult conditions, narrowly missing out on a points finish.

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Practice

Lance placed his Aston Martin F1 car inside the top ten during the first practice session, taking P10 at the chequered flag. He followed that up with P11 in FP2 and P19 in the third and final practice session.  

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Qualifying

Saturday’s qualifying session was a short-lived one for Lance, who qualified P17 in Q1 meaning he wouldn’t progress through to the next stage.

WATCH: 2023 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

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Race

Having begun the race from the P17 grid slot, Lance masterfully navigated the Lap 1 chaos to make his way up to P12, prior to an early-race Safety Car deployment to recover debris.

Upon the restart, Lance managed to defend his position from the chasing pack behind. As the lap counter entered double figures, the Alpha Tauri cars and Aston Martin F1 teammate Fernando Alonso ahead entered the pits, elevating him to P8.

On Lap 15, Lance headed for the pit lane himself, and re-joined the fight in P14 on fresh Medium tyres. Just three laps later, and with his new tyres up to temperature, Lance got past Nico Hulkenberg on the run down to Turn 1, climbing to P13 in the process.

By Lap 21, Lance was up to P12 but unfortunately, he was forced to retire the car having suffered a rear wing failure.

WATCH: 2023 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team driver:

"My race was ended by a rear wing failure today. It’s disappointing because I had a good start, making up five places on the opening lap, and I think a point or two would have been possible. That’s racing sometimes. We’ll investigate what happened and go again in a couple of weeks’ time in Qatar."