Lance Stroll provides crucial Japanese GP fitness update after missing Singapore race

Lance Stroll has silenced all speculation by confirming that he will return to the Aston Martin cockpit for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Canadian racer has been under mounting pressure with his father Lawrence Stroll’s team amidst struggles to contend with the performance levels of team-mate Fernando Alonso, with the Singapore Grand Prix providing a further unwanted and worrying twist.

Trying to claw back time in his quest to make the Q2 stage of qualifying, Stroll lost control of his AMR23 coming out of the final corner at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, suffering a frightening impact with the barriers as the resulting red flags brought an early end to qualifying.

Lance Stroll good to go for Japanese Grand Prix

With Stroll then thankfully okay but taking no further part in qualifying, attention turned to the huge rebuild effort to get that Aston Martin challenger ready for Singapore Grand Prix race day, but team and driver made the joint decision for Stroll to sit the race out, with the Canadian feeling the after-effects of such a vicious shunt.

But, with Aston Martin having played down the prospect of Stroll being absent from this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix too, the driver has now taken to social media to confirm that he is indeed fit and ready to get back to action at Suzuka.

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“Thank you for all the kind messages,” he wrote in a post.

“Ready to race this weekend.”

Aston Martin will be hoping for a far smoother race in Japan after Singapore descended into a nightmare, Alonso calling the AMR23 “undriveable” at one stage in the race, with a poor Aston Martin pit stop also helping him on his way to a lowly P15 finish.

Aston Martin then took no points away from Singapore, a damaging result in their quest to finish P2 in theConstructors’ Championshipwith Mercedes in that spot now 72 points up the road.

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