Racing
© Liauzh
Aston Martin left Canadian Grand Prix qualifying with no driver sanctions but a €12,500 bill from the FIA after two separate operational failures, the more serious involving Lance Stroll’s AMR26 shedding wheel-cover parts in an incident the stewards called “potentially dangerous.”
The larger penalty was a €7,500 fine tied to Stroll’s car. In their post-session ruling, the stewards said car 18 “lost an outer wheel trim” on its way down the pit lane at the start of qualifying, before a second problem followed once the car was already on track. On Stroll’s first lap, “the inner wheel cover also dislodged,” turning what began as a pit-lane mistake into a more serious safety concern.
That second loss drove the severity of the punishment. The stewards said the detached part, although made from carbon fibre, was “potentially dangerous if it hits another car or a person.” They added that Stroll was unaware of the problem and that Aston Martin accepted responsibility, admitting its inspection process had “overlooked the correct fixation of the securing devices for these pieces.” The team, the decision noted, undertook to “thoroughly review its inspection process.”
The FIA made clear that this was not treated like a routine release error. In the decision document, the stewards explained that the fine was set higher than for an unsafe release because “the car was on the track when the second piece dislodged.” That distinction mattered: once the inner cover came loose on Stroll’s outlap, the issue had moved beyond a garage or pit-lane lapse and into an active on-track safety risk.
Aston Martin’s second penalty came from Fernando Alonso’s release at the start of Q1. After reviewing position and onboard video, the stewards concluded the team had sent Alonso into the path of Alpine driver Franco Colapinto and imposed a further €5,000 fine.
Their verdict was direct. The officials said “car 43 had to swerve and locked the front wheels to avoid a collision with car 14,” and ruled that this constituted an unsafe release. Unlike the Stroll case, this incident did not involve a component failure, but it added to a qualifying session in which Aston Martin’s execution repeatedly let the team down.
The contrast in outcomes was striking. Stroll avoided a driving penalty over a separate impeding investigation, and other drivers called to the stewards also escaped heavier punishment. Aston Martin, though, still emerged as the team hit hardest after qualifying because both fines were attached to its own procedures rather than anything its drivers did behind the wheel.
That leaves the team carrying the biggest regulatory fallout from the session: two separate errors, two separate rulings, and a combined €12,500 penalty that underlined how costly operational lapses can become when they create both pit-lane risk and an on-track safety hazard.