Why did Lance Stroll 'shed a tear' during his contact with Fernando Alonso at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP?

It was recently revealed that Lance Stroll welled up during the first few laps of the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, especially after he made contact with his teammate, Fernando Alonso, on the first lap of the race. Unfortunately, Stroll got into a bike accident right before the pre-season testing in Bahrain. Thanks to his doctors, he made a swift recovery and successfully took part in the first race weekend.

While speaking on a recent Sky Sports' vodcast on YouTube, F1 presenter Naomi Schiff revealed that Lance Stroll told her and other presenters how he 'shed a tear' after touching Fernando Alonso. This was simply because the amount of energy required to counter-steer and control the car was too much for the Canadian to bear. As a result, tears came to his eyes while trying to steady his car during the race. Schiff aptly stated:

"I think maybe he sometimes does not come across extremely motivated, but I think this weekend he proved that he was very motivated and that he was going to do everything it took to get back in the car despite the condition that he was in. From what he told us, he even shed a tear after that touch with Alonso; he obviously had quite a lot of lock on the steering [wheel], and he shed a tear; that's how much pain he was in."

Naomi Schiff later commended Lance Stroll for driving the entire race distance and finishing in sixth place. This further justifies how Lawrence Stroll, Lance's father, praised his son after the race. Even Fernando Alonso spoke highly of his teammate and hugged him on several occasions after the race. The F1 presenter concluded:

"So, for him to do the entire race, because it was obviously the longest stint all weekend, and to finish sixth, hats off, that's a big achievement, and I can understand why Lawrence Stroll is very proud of him."

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Fernando Alonso summed up his on-track battle with Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain GP

After finishing third in the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, Fernando Alonso explained his intense wheel-to-wheel battle with his old rival, Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard initially praised the seven-time world champion and mentioned how he used his legendary talent during the battle. Later on, he explained how he raced the Briton to overtake him:

“It was great, a lot of respect between us. It’s never the same when you fight against Lewis, one of the legends of our sport, and you know he can do something unexpected and use his talent. He got me in Turn Four, I was in front of him but he managed to pass me there. That was a little bit of a surprise and I didn’t like it, so I tried in another place and it worked, and I had more pace, so I could pull away.”

As it was a clean and thrilling battle between both the veteran drivers, they were quite pleased with the outcome, even embracing each other after the race with a smile. Interestingly, this was not always the case between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, as they were arch rivals who fought for several world championships in the past.