Lance Stroll subject of brutal fan chant after Brazil GP footage emerges

Fan footage from the Brazilian Grand Prix has uncovered the moment spectators chanted the name of Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich as Lance Stroll hit trouble on the formation lap.

Aston Martin suffered a torrid weekend at Interlagos, where both Stroll and team-mate Fernando Alonso crashed out of the delayed Sunday morning qualifying session.

Brazil GP fans called for Felipe Drugovich amid Lance Stroll woes

Those incidents left the team with a frantic rebuilding job ahead of the race, with Alonso forced to revert to older parts.

Alonso was heard complaining of back pain over team radio in the closing stages of the race, having suffered from extreme bouncing on the resurfaced Interlagos track.

The two-time World Champion was later seen struggling to haul himself out of his car, with untelevised footage from parc ferme showing Alonso resting on his halo for approximately 15 seconds before vacating his cockpit.

Fernando Alonso vs Lance Stroll Aston Martin head-to-head stats for F1 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Stroll, meanwhile, failed to even start the race after suffering an apparent brake failure at Turn 4 on the formation lap, making light contact with the wall.

In his attempts to rejoin, the Canadian drove straight into the gravel trap and ended up beaching his AMR24.

A clip posted to social media has revealed the moment Brazilian fans taunted Stroll by chanting the name of Drugovich, Aston Martin’s reserve driver since 2022, as he sat stationary following his collision with the barrier.

The crowd then erupts as Stroll gets stuck in the gravel, bringing an early end to his afternoon.

Despite winning the prestigious F2 (formerly GP2) feeder series – a category previously won by the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri – in 2022, Drugovich has struggled to force his way into contention for an F1 race seat.

The 24-year-old participated in pre-season testing for Aston Martin in 2023 after Stroll was ruled out through injury and has made two FP1 appearances during the F1 2024 season in Italy and Mexico.

Drugovich, of Maringa, Parana, was briefly linked with a race seat with Audi F1, who will take over the existing Sauber team in time for the sport’s new regulations in F1 2026, earlier this year.

However, reports over the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend claimed his compatriot and McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto, the current leader of the F2 standings, will become Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber team-mate for the F1 2025 season.

If confirmed, Bortoleto’s graduation to an Audi F1 race seat would see the Sao Paulo-born star become the first full-time Brazilian F1 racer since Felipe Massa in 2017.

Speaking to reporters after his retirement at Interlagos, meanwhile, Stroll claimed he was “just a passenger” after his suspected brake failure entering Turn 4 on the parade lap, adding that it “sucked” to be out so early ahead of a chaotic race.

He said: “Really strange.

“As soon as I touched the brake, I had a huge rear lock and was just a passenger from there.

“I’ve never felt that in the car [before], so maybe there was a brake failure problem and we have to look into it.

“It’s a shame. In a race like this anything’s possible, so to be out on Lap 1 really sucks, but we have to look into what happened.”

Alonso later revealed that he too was hindered by a brake issue at the restarts, which resulted in his brake balance “going completely rearwards.”

The Spaniard likened the problem to “braking with a handbrake” and described his own afternoon as “a nightmare” as he battled car and physical complaints.

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