Lance Stroll Powers to P6 in Bahrain Grand Prix

The Canadian was forced to miss pre-season testing due to his injuries but returned to the cockpit to complete his first reflective laps in Aston Martin’s AMR23 in Friday practice.

Although Lance missed out on some track time due to an ignition issue in FP1, he grew in confidence over the course of the first day and ended both practice sessions with the sixth-fastest time.

He continued to improve his understanding during the final hour of practice running on Saturday morning before extracting all performance for qualifying.

Lance set the fifth-fastest time in Q1 and by ending Q2 in 10th, bagged his place in the first pole position shootout of the 2023 campaign.

A personal best 1:30.863 run was ultimately worthy of eighth, and from the fourth row of the grid, he continued to show raw pace throughout Sunday’s race.

With a strong start, Lance immediately applied pressure on Mercedes’ George Russell but slipped to ninth after taking evasive action in Turn Four at the start of the first lap.

From the second lap onwards, he carefully extracted performance from his race-starting Soft tyres to extend his first stint and utilise the overcut strategy.

Lance pitted at the end of lap 15 after chasing team-mate Fernando Alonso, and Russell, and rejoined the race in ninth but quickly overtook Valtteri Bottas for eighth.

He again set out in pursuit of Russell and pitted for a second time on lap 30 to fit a fresh set of the Hard compound in an attempt to undercut the Briton.

This forced Russell into pitting at the end of lap 31, and although the Mercedes rejoined ahead, Lance took advantage of his up-to-temperature tyres to overtake into Turn Four.

Now running in seventh, Lance ascended to sixth when Charles Leclerc stopped on track with a technical issue and took the chequered flag to secure eight World Championship points.

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

“It was a fun race and I am super pleased to score good points tonight. It was not the most comfortable race for me, because of the injuries I have been dealing with, but to finish sixth has made it worth enduring all that pain. This is an amazing result for the team and the best way to start the season. Well done to everybody at Silverstone and here at the track. Fernando put in a great drive to take a podium first time out and has really shown the potential of this car. It feels great to be battling with Mercedes. Even with the adrenaline, the pain was the biggest limiting factor in the second half of the race. I must thank everyone who has helped me be in the best shape possible for today. I will now use the coming days ahead of Jeddah to work on recovery.”

Lance will return to action on 17-19 March, 2023, for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.