Boss criticizes 'typical media' regarding Stroll speculations.

      "I was on the pitwall and didn’t hear anything."

      Aston Martin's mechanics, engineers, and everyone else found out about Lance Stroll’s unexpected withdrawal from the Spanish GP simultaneously. An unnamed mechanic mentioned that an email was sent to the race team late on Saturday, indicating that the Canadian driver was out due to hand pain that had persisted for at least six weeks. With Stroll having already taken part in qualifying, where he was half a second slower than teammate Fernando Alonso, the team was left operating with only one car for Sunday’s race.

      Since then, there have been rumors suggesting that Stroll caused a scene in the Aston Martin garage, allegedly ignoring the FIA’s instruction to undergo a standard weighing procedure. The stewards looked into this matter, including Stroll’s unexplained five-minute delay in reporting to race officials. Some believe that during this time, Stroll may have aggravated his previous cycling injury by throwing items in the garage and verbally clashing with team members.

      "No, no," insisted chief trackside officer Mike Krack. "Firstly, I was on the pitwall and didn’t hear anything. I think these are typical media stories." However, he did acknowledge that Aston Martin was aware of Stroll’s ongoing hand and wrist pain, although they were not fully aware of how it was worsening. "You don’t run after a driver and ask him every five minutes if he’s in pain or not," Krack explained. "It had been mentioned periodically over the past few weeks, but the severity was uncertain."

      Meanwhile, Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich has indicated that he is ready to sit out Le Mans next weekend in order to replace Stroll for the Canadian GP.