Stroll walks away from heavy Turn 3 shunt as Aston pace pops in Zandvoort Friday
Lance Stroll says he’s “all good” after a big one at Zandvoort left his AMR25 in pieces and the paddock holding its breath.
Under darkening clouds in FP2, the Canadian’s Aston Martin snapped loose on the banking at Turn 3 and speared into the SAFER barrier, tearing up the right-hand side of the car and scattering carbon. Stroll was straight on the radio to confirm he was fine, and later told F1TV he’d simply had “a little lock-up, and then from there I was just a passenger.”
The crash drew immediate concern for obvious reasons. Max Verstappen, first on the scene, asked over team radio: “Is he okay with his hands? I saw how he hit the wall.” It’s the exact section of track that bit Daniel Ricciardo two years ago, when the Australian suffered a broken hand in FP2 while avoiding a stricken Oscar Piastri.
Stroll’s own history with wrist injuries isn’t ancient either. He broke both ahead of the 2023 season in a cycling crash, had surgery on the right and extensive rehab on the left, and more recently stepped out of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix for a minor procedure to address ongoing issues. So when the AMR25 hit side-on, you could feel the collective wince along the pit wall.
The good news: the driver is fine. The bad news for Aston Martin: the car definitely isn’t. The right-side suspension and bodywork took the hit, and the rebuild will go late into the night. “Just one of those things,” Stroll shrugged, keeping the focus on what still looks like a promising weekend.
And it does look promising. Before the accident, the green cars showed their teeth. Fernando Alonso ended FP2 second quickest, a slender 0.087s off pacesetter Lando Norris, while Stroll had earlier led the Aston charge in FP1, clocking P3 ahead of his teammate. There’s still a final practice hour to tidy up the balance before qualifying, but the baseline pace is there.
“We looked competitive all the way throughout the day… I think we’re in a good spot,” Stroll said. Asked if a place on the first couple of rows was on the cards, he didn’t dance around it: “I think so; it looks that way for sure.”
Zandvoort’s Turn 3 has always demanded commitment, but Friday’s wind and track temps left a narrow window for the brave. Stroll found the edge the hard way. If the crew can turn his car around without any lingering gremlins, Aston Martin heads into Saturday with genuine prospects — Alonso already in the fight, Stroll quick out of the box before things unraveled.
The storyline now flips from crash analysis to resource management. Fresh parts will bolt on, fingers crossed the chassis checks out, and if FP3 goes to plan, Stroll will be back hunting grid slots rather than guardrails. The team’s pace suggests it’s worth the effort.
It wasn’t the rain that lit up Friday, but the margins — and the margin for error at Turn 3. Stroll walked away. Aston Martin’s weekend is still very much alive.
