06 October 2023 , 17:54
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Lance Stroll appeared to push a member of Aston Martin staff in an angry response to a disappointing Qatar Grand Prix qualifying result.
The Canadian suffered another Q1 exit with a time not quick enough to manage any better than 17th on the grid. It was the fourth qualifying session in a row in which he has failed to reach Q2.
With the pressure on Stroll amid a poor run of form, he appeared to let his emotions get the better of him. After climbing out of his car back in the garage, he ignored a staff member who seemed to be trying to speak with him.
As the staff member followed the racer to the back of the garage, TV cameras showed Stroll appearing to push that member of staff, who had disappeared from view behind a wall. The Aston Martin F1 team declined to comment on the incident.
Stroll was still furious as he appeared in the TV pen to fulfil his media obligations. Asked for his feelings after the early qualifying exit, he simply replied: "Yeah, s***", prompting an apology for the coarse language from the interviewer.
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And he wasn't in the mood to give much more than that. Asked what isn't clicking for him at the moment, the Canadian looked nonplussed and shook his head as he said: "I don't know."
And finally, asked how he will approach the rest of the weekend, he just said he would "keep driving". He then walked away from the camera before it was confirmed that the interview was over.
Max Verstappen took pole position for Sunday's race with a lap three-tenths quicker than the best effort of Lando Norris. The gap grew even further when the McLaren driver's time was deleted, meaning George Russell inherited second place.
And Lewis Hamilton was also bumped up because Oscar Piastri also had a time deleted. Fernando Alonso also gained a couple of positions to qualify fourth, slightly softening the blow for Aston Martin after Stroll's struggles.
Charles Leclerc will be fifth on Sunday's grid ahead of Piastri. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are seventh and eighth while Valtteri Bottas was the final one to benefit from McLaren's misfortune, with Norris relegated to 10th on the grid.