Stroll: Wrist still not at 100% but ‘worst part is behind’

Lance Stroll says his right wrist injured in a cycling crash ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix is still in healing mode, but the Aston Martin charger ensures “the worst part is behind him”.

Stroll’s fall while training in Spain put the Canadian’s participation in the opening race of the season in doubt. But surgery and an accelerated rehabilitation programme allowed him to race and to even finish sixth at Sakhir.

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“[It was] pretty painful on the Monday after [Bahrain], but it was a good weekend for the team – so worth the pain,” Stroll told the media in Jeddah on Thursday.

The past two weeks allowed Stroll to make further progress on his physical condition, but he admitted needing more time to feel fully recovered.

“I’m getting better every day, feeling better every day,” he said. “I think the worst part is behind me.

“I’m still not 100 per cent, it takes a bit of time for these things to heal. But I’m definitely feeling better than 10 days ago, or whenever we were in Bahrain.”

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Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso who snatched an impressive podium in Bahrain said Aston Martin is keeping its feet on the ground and the team is expecting a different challenge this weekend.

“It will be a very different challenge [in Jeddah] as it is a completely different circuit to what we experienced in the opening race,” said Alonso.

“Realistically I do not think it will be until after Australia that we will know better where the overall performance stands, as by then we will have had three very different race weekends on varied circuits in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

“Our feet remain on the ground and hard work is needed to maintain this start and try to get another strong result this weekend.”