Lance Stroll infringement leads to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix punishment

Lance Stroll puts his helmet on in Qatar — Photo: © LAT Images

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Stroll infringement leads to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix punishment

The Canadian has caused his team a bit of bother

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 24 November 2023 19:27

Aston Martin have been handed a €5,000 fine at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after Lance Stroll was found to have broken the rules during FP1.

Stroll was summoned to the stewards room after the practice session for 'driving unnecessarily slowly through turns 15 and 16' at the Yas Marina Circuit.

He was found guilty of the infringement but, similarly to Logan Sargeant for an almost identical offence, it was his team that bore the brunt of the stewards' wrath for a rather costly mistake.

It rounded off a pretty frustrating day for Stroll.

The Canadian was also the only current Formula 1 driver on the grid to be beaten by their rookie counterpart during the session, after Felipe Drugovich replaced Fernando Alonso and put in a sublime lap to take second on the time sheets.

Lance Stroll was handed a five-place grid penalty last time out at the Las Vegas Grand Prix for an incident in practice

Felipe Drugovich impressed during his outing for Aston Martin at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Aston Martin head into the final race of the season 11 points behind rivals McLaren

Stroll in trouble with stewards

It's the second time in seven days that Stroll has been punished for an incident during practice.

Last weekend, at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the 25-year-old was hit with a five-place grid penalty for overtaking Carlos Sainz under double-waved yellow flags in FP3.

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Whilst this offence doesn't come with as harsh consequences as that, his team certainly won't be thanking him ahead of a weekend where they are desperately trying to eliminate the 11-point gap between themselves and McLaren in the constructors' standings.