‘I felt it creeping up on me’ – Stroll explains why he skipped Singapore GP
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The 24-year-old Canadian lost control of his Aston Martin through the final corner at the end of Q1 and smashed into the barriers, causing extensive damage to his car. Despite emerging from the violent 150mph unscathed and being cleared by the on-site medical team, Stroll withdrew from the event after Aston Martin said he was “still sore”. Speaking to media on his return to the F1 paddock ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Stroll explained his call. “Much better than I felt on Sunday, I’m feeling OK now,” he said.“[The feeling was] just everywhere. I was fine, I was healthy to race, but I wasn’t physically feeling good enough to do Singapore, which is the hardest race of the year.“I felt it creeping up on me on Saturday night and I knew it wasn’t going to be fun waking up on Sunday.”
Stroll added: “I went through all the concussion protocols and did all my tests and stuff.“They just [said], ‘See how you feel later in the night’ and all that stuff and then make a decision tomorrow.”Stroll, who was due to start 20th and last, insisted he had no regrets missing out on a potential recovery drive to the points. Related The F1 qualifying rule the FIA has reintroduced at the Japanese When Leclerc knew he’d be sacrificed to boost Ferrari’s victory bid“There’s always an opportunity on Sunday to race and try to score some points,” Stroll said. “We saw drivers come from pretty far back on Sunday and manage to climb through the field to score points.“You never know what’ll happen. If I would’ve felt fine and really good, I would’ve raced. “But I just didn’t really feel like it was the right thing to do and I think it would’ve delayed my recovery to coming here and feeling 100%.”
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