FIA gives Aston Martin permission for Stroll to race
Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll has received the permission to take the start in the Australian Grand Prix - but it required a "compelling" case from the team.
Stroll fell short of the required 107% laptime threshold in every session in the troubled Aston Martin AMR26.
His tally of laps for the weekend stands at 16, none of them on Saturday, and his best lap was seven seconds slower than George Russell's eventual pole time.
In the F1 of recent years, getting dispensation to start the race after a qualifying problem of some kind has forced a 107% rule breach has usually been no problem at all. Indeed, this was the case with Carlos Sainz and Williams and Max Verstappen and Red Bull - who set no time in Q1 like Stroll but had been fast enough in practice to be granted a start.
But the stewards' verdict on Stroll indicates getting him on the grid took some convincing.
According to the stewards, Aston Martin presented a three-part argument for Stroll to be granted the right to start.
The first was team-mate Fernando Alonso qualifying within the 107% threshold in the more functional of the two AMR26s.
The second was Stroll's own career record in F1 and specifically in F1 at Melbourne, which "demonstrated significant familiarity with the circuit and its operational requirements", and his "859km so far this year in the AMR26".
The third, finally, was that the decision not to qualify with Stroll was taken "out of prudence" and related to "a damaged oil line in the car". The problem was simply described as "a power unit issue on the ICE side" by Honda.
With Aston Martin engine supplier Honda at the limit when it comes to available batteries in Melbourne and beset by continued reliability issues, even taking the start hasn't felt like a certainty for either Stroll or Alonso - and either reaching the finish still appears a long shot.
The Race understands that, as it stands, Aston Martin does intend for Stroll to race.
According to Honda, the counter-measures aimed at tackling the battery vibration issue that had wrecked Aston Martin's pre-season and led it to talking of stint length limits for its drivers this weekend has been mitigated somewhat.
"We continue to see signs in our data that the battery vibrations have decreased since Bahrain testing, and we will continue to work further on this," said Honda's chief engineer Shintaro Orihara.
