Stroll felt as though his final flying lap in Q1 was severely disrupted by poor tire preparation, traffic and dirty air. This prompted the Canadian to “send it” into the final turns at Marina Bay.
But after going over the curb on the exit, the rear of his AMR23 popped up and he slammed into the outside wall before debris slid back down the circuit and triggered a red flag stop.
While Stroll was cleared of injury after a preventive assessment at the medical center, on Sunday morning he and the team “jointly” decided to withdraw from the race.
When asked by Motorsport.com whether Stroll’s gamble of making up time at the last corner and risking a crash was the right approach, team boss Krack said he dispelled the notion that Stroll was not committed to F1.
Krack said: “It’s proof that he’s in it. So for all the guys who think he’s not, to go into that corner at that speed, you’ve got to have some determination.”
“I think it’s more proof that he’s got it.”
Stroll has been praised for his determination to start the 2023 season in Bahrain after a cycling accident in which he suffered a broken wrist ruled him out of pre-season testing.
But when the Dutch Grand Prix came around at the end of August, Stroll – whose father Lawrence owns an Aston Martin – was forced to quash rumors that he was ready to leave F1 for a tennis career.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo credit: Zak Mauger / Motorsport images
It is understood that Aston Martin Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh has expressed interest in Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris joining Fernando Alonso as teammates.
Krack added, “Lance is very strong. He’s much, much stronger than people think.
“You saw him (doing media duties after his crash). I’m not worried at all … he’ll be fine.”
Stroll passed all FIA primary and secondary tests and was cleared to race, but discussions with Aston Martin on Sunday morning led to his withdrawal.
But Krack says there is “zero” chance of Stroll missing this weekend’s Japanese GP.
He continued: “It’s sore overall. If you have an incident like that, you have to think about straining muscles all over the place.
“It’s like if you spend a very hard day in the gym, you’re not going to feel great. I think it’s the right decision to be ready for Japan.
“The most important thing is that he is fine, anything else is secondary.
The AMR23 chassis was salvageable and Aston Martin says it factored a major accident repair into its cost limit.
