LANCE STROLL was unable to compete in qualifying for the Eifel Grand Prix because he ‘couldn’t get off the toilet.’
The Racing Point driver was a no-show on Saturday and was pulled out of Sunday’s race to be replaced by Nico Hulkenberg.
There were initial fears that the 21-year-old Canadian had contracted coronavirus after feeling unwell.
But the team confirmed four tests came back negative and he was in fact suffering from a stomach bug.
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer confirmed: “He hasn’t been feeling great since Russia.
“I think he had a bit of a cold. At first we thought, ‘Well you had better get tested for the virus.’
“We’ve tested him multiple times, including the pre-event test for this race.
“And he’s come back negative three or four times. He doesn’t have the classic Covid-19 symptoms, he just doesn’t feel well in himself.
“And last night he had a bit of an upset stomach.
“So he was on the toilet the whole time. And he said, ‘I’ve got rid of a lot of fluid, and I can’t get off the toilet for long enough to get in the race car’.
“I don’t know if it’s something he ate, or if it’s a tummy bug.
He just said, ‘I’m just not feeling up to it. We’re going to have a double-header coming up soon. And I’d rather rest and get ready for that.’
“We were hoping that he was going to get better. He had kind of flu-like symptoms.
“Just not well in himself, and couldn’t exercise, and so now that, with whatever he ate or a tummy bug together, he said, ‘I can’t do it.’
“We’ve got a doctor looking after him and when he’s fit to leave, he’ll go home.
“It’s the race that he wasn’t really looking forward to, in the state that he was in.
“He was hoping that he could get off the toilet and come in.
“But it was 30 minutes before FP3. Otherwise yesterday we would have called Hulkenberg a day earlier, and he would have done FP3.”
