Lance Stroll has admitted he is still not 100 percent fit for the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but says he is much closer to being at his best.
The Canadian produced a stellar race to finish sixth at the 2023 Bahrain GP despite suffering with injuries to his wrists and feet after a training accident in pre-season which caused him to miss the three-day test at Sakhir.
Stroll saw his teammate, Fernando Alonso, finish on the podium in the Aston Martin and now feels like the worst of his recovery is behind him as he looks ahead to the rest of 2023.
“It was pretty painful on the Monday after but it was a good weekend for the team so worth a bit of pain,” Stroll told the media ahead of the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP.
“I’ve been getting better every day. The worst part is now behind me, I’m still not 100 percent because these things take time to heal but I’m definitely healing much better than I was 10 days ago.”
More to come from Aston Martin
Aston Martin backed up their pre-season optimism by fighting with the Ferrari and Mercedes teams for the podium places and coming out on top at the opening race of the year, much to Stroll and Alonso‘s delight.
But despite the upturn in performance from 2022, Stroll still sees the new car as a work in progress and believes there could be even more pace to come from it moving forwards.
“The car was really competitive throughout the whole weekend out in Bahrain,” Stroll continued. “The guys have done an incredible job over the winter to build this car.
“We’re still a work in progress and I’m excited to see how we go this weekend. This is a very different type of track.”
