The entire Aston Martin team, from mechanics to engineers, reportedly learned of Lance Stroll's sudden Spanish GP withdrawal at the same time as everyone else — via a late-night email on Saturday.
According to one unnamed mechanic, the message explained that Stroll had been ruled out due to hand pain linked to a lingering injury from at least six weeks prior.
The news came after he had already qualified 14th — half a second slower than teammate Fernando Alonso — making a race-day replacement impossible.
Since then, speculation has swirled that Stroll's exit wasn't entirely down to a steadily progressing injury. It is known that he delayed the mandatory post-qualifying weighing procedure by five minutes, during which time he allegedly lost his temper in the garage, insulted team members, and possibly aggravated the old wrist injury by throwing equipment.
Aston Martin trackside chief Mike Krack was quick to push back on those claims.
"No, no," Krack told reporters. "First of all, I was on the pitwall and didn't hear anything. I think these are typical media stories."
Krack did confirm that the team was aware of Stroll's chronic wrist discomfort — just not the severity of it.
"You don't run after a driver and ask him every five minutes if he's in pain or not," he said. "So yeah, it had been mentioned periodically over the last few weeks, but you never know how serious it was."
Meanwhile, Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich has confirmed he is willing to skip the Le Mans 24 Hours this coming weekend if he's called up to replace Stroll at his home race in Canada.
