Martin Brundle: Lance Stroll will ‘have more than sore wrists’ if he races Alonso like Vettel

Martin Brundle has quipped that Lance Stroll will “have more than sore wrists” if he races Fernando Alonso as aggressively as he did against former Aston Martin team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Expectation is growing around the Aston Martin team ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with the AMR23 set to be in contention for the podium positions after flying in pre-season testing.

Stroll missed the three-day test after sustaining a broken wrist in a cycling accident while training for the new season, but has been passed fit to participate in the first race weekend of 2023.

The Canadian had a series of near misses with Vettel last season, with the pair almost making contact at the last corner of the last lap while fighting for position in France before Stroll moved across on the four-time World Champion on the straight in Brazil.

Appearing on Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the opening practice session in Bahrain, Brundle claimed that Alonso will not stand for similar stunts from Stroll.

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On Aston Martin’s prospects, he said: “They might not be right at the front in qualifying, but we do think that during the longer stints it’s a great car – and if anybody can wring the neck and drive the wheels off a great car it’s Fernando Alonso.

“If [Stroll] puts the moves on Fernando that he put on Seb as his team-mate, he’ll be in the grandstands or he’ll have more than sore wrists!”

Ahead of his return to action on Thursday in Bahrain, Stroll told reporters – including PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher – of Aston Martin’s anticipation for the new season.

“It looks great. I think everyone’s really excited, I’m really excited to be here and to get back driving. It was painful watching the test from a couch and not being in the car.

“Early signs look good, but never know until you go racing. So I think we’re going to find out a lot more when we start this week.”

Stroll and Alonso both confirmed to the media that Aston had made every effort to keep Stroll informed during his absence from pre-season testing, with the two-time World Champion revealing that Stroll was involved in debriefs for each of the three days as well as providing feedback from the team’s simulator.