23 February 2023 , 13:51
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Lance Stroll is "going to try" to recover in time to race at the Bahrain Grand Prix – but Felipe Drugovich could not say for sure whether the Canadian will be fit for the season-opener.
The Canadian will again race for Aston Martin this season. However, he was forced to pull out of pre-season testing after suffering an accident while training on a bicycle in Spain.
As a result, Stroll was forced to pull out of pre-season testing and miss out on important practice behind the wheel of the team's new car. Filling in for him, Formula 2 champion Drugovich was called up to drive the AMR23 alongside Fernando Alonso in Bahrain this week.
Speaking after driving in the first session on Thursday, the Brazilian visited the Sky Sports commentary booth to chat with Alex Jacques, Will Buxton and Lawrence Barretto. And it wasn't long before he was probed about Stroll's recovery.
"I've been answering this question for two hours now!" he replied with a smile, before adding: "It all depends from Lance and his situation." Asked by Buxton if Stroll's wrist was the main issue, Drugovich replied: "Yeah, that's the main thing.
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"I think he is recovering – that's the only good news I have. He is recovering and he is going to try to be here for the race for sure. But me and Stoffel [Vandoorne] were both assigned to be here at the race as well, so we need to wait and see if we can race or not."
Formula E champion Vandoorne is in South Africa this week for the Cape Town E-Prix, meaning Drugovich was the obvious choice for testing when Aston Martin realised Stroll would not be available.
Lance Stroll is forced to miss pre-season testing through injury (Charlie Neibergall/AP/REX/Shutterstock)"A few days ago I got a call from the team and booked my flight," the Brazilian recalled. "Then I went to the simulator to have a full day with the simulator to try to learn again and refresh all the procedures I need to do here."
His first session behind the wheel of the ARM23 did not start smoothly, as the car suffered an electrical fault. As a result he was restricted to 40 laps of running – less than every other team – over the rest of that session. But he is confident that it still went well.
Drugovich said: "After that, things were really good. We got through the whole plan. Obviously, that issue made the schedule a bit tighter, but after that everything went smoothly and I really enjoyed it. Very thankful to the team that they had the confidence to put me here to get the job done. I'm very happy."