Up Next
The FIA says it has received an apology from Lance Stroll for his conduct at the Qatar Grand Prix, for which the Aston Martin Formula 1 driver has been given a written warning.
Stroll shoved his personal trainer, Henry Howe, in the Aston Martin garage following his exit from Q1 on Friday evening - his fourth such early qualifying elimination in a row.
His FOM broadcast interview after the session was also extremely curt and, while Stroll was not reported to the stewards at Lusail, the FIA revealed on the Tuesday after the Qatar GP that its compliance officer, Paolo Basarri, was "in discussion" with Stroll.
This was "in relation to several incidents that may have contravened FIA rules, policies and procedures" that weekend.
Issuing an "update on this topic" on Friday, the FIA said Stroll had apologised for his actions.
It added that Basarri had "noted this apology" while issuing Stroll with a written warning "reminding Lance of his responsibilities as a competitor bound by the FIA code of ethics and other FIA ethical and conduct guidelines set forth by the sporting regulations".
"The FIA maintains a zero-tolerance stance against misconduct and condemns any actions that may lead to physical harassment," it added.
Stroll faced questions about his actions on the Saturday following the sprint race and spoke of his own "frustration" when asked by The Race about what was going through his mind at that moment, as well as that of "the whole group right now" at Aston Martin.
The team has slipped from heading the best-of-the-rest pack in F1 2023 behind Red Bull to being a firm fifth fastest among the leading teams, and is just 11 points clear of McLaren in its bid to hold onto fourth in the constructors' standings.
Stroll said in respect of Howe that "“we’re good" and that "he’s a bro", adding: "We go through the frustration together and we ride together so… we’re cool."
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack played down the incident, and put Stroll’s outburst down to an accumulation of frustration.
He likened it to “a football player that is taken off the pitch; he doesn’t do high-five to the manager, or he throws the jersey or he throws the water bottles”.
