Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll qualified eighth at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday and then revealed he broke his big toe as well as both wrists in a bicycle accident two weeks ago.
The 24-year-old Canadian said the last week has been “pretty crazy”.
“If someone offered me a 1 percent chance to be here, I would take it,” said Stroll, whose wrist injuries were revealed earlier this week.
“Today is exactly two weeks since I had an accident. I couldn’t move both arms, I couldn’t walk. I also had a broken big toe on my right foot. The light at the end of the tunnel was very far away.
“I got out of surgery 12 days ago, checked out of the hospital 10 days ago, sort of. Very grateful and just happy to be here.”
Stroll, who missed three days of pre-season testing and struggled to get out of the car after Friday’s practice, said he’s feeling better with every lap and is starting to trust his hands more.
He said he also found more rhythm and was confident he would be ok to race in a car that was a lot of fun to drive.
The Canadian will start alongside seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
“I think it gets easier every day. Now I’m not as worried as I was a week ago, ”added the son of the billionaire team owner Lawrence.
He said the broken finger hurt “but didn’t restrict me from driving” and he took over-the-counter painkillers.
Teammate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso qualified fifth after setting the pace in the second and third workouts.
Speaking of his teammate’s efforts, Alonso said: “Impressive. Every lap I’m in the garage and congratulate him every session because what he does is not easy.
“It shows how determined he is to achieve a good result and a good career in Formula 1, his passion for the sport, which sometimes doesn’t sell like that because Lawrence is the owner, and things like that. He showed a lot this weekend. things for everyone.”
Source: www.espn.com
