“It’s not fair what happened and that corner needs to be looked at”: Lance Stroll calls for tough action after young F1-aspirant’s death

Aston Martin F1 driver Lance Stroll was not one bit happy with his P4 finish in the Sprint Race at the 2023 Austrian GP on Saturday as his mind was focused on the passing of Dutch driver Dilano van’t Hoff's earlier in the day.

The former F4 champion passed away after getting in an incident in a FRECA race at the Spa-Francorchamps track on Saturday in wet conditions. The Dutch driver succumbed to his injuries just ahead of the Sprint Race in Austria. The news of his passing sent shock waves throughout the paddock and motorsport as they sent out their condolences to his family.

In his post-Sprint interview, Lance Stroll demanded changes to the track before F1 heads to Spa in a couple of weeks' time.

“The story of the day is not the race. We lost a young driver at Spa today. My thoughts are with him and his family. It’s not fair what happened and that corner needs to be looked at and changed because we’ve lost two young talents in the span of five years," he said.

“It needs to be changed, that corner. We’re going there in a few weeks. It’s horrible what happened today. We lost a member of the racing family and we seriously need to think about what to do at that corner because it’s never fun going through there. Every time we go through there we put our lives on the line and today we saw something bad happen and it’s not right,” Stroll added.

Aston Martin F1 driver gives his take on the changes needed in Spa

Lance Stroll's Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso stated that rather than changes at the track, the FIA needed to review the situation and why they needed to race in such rain.

He was quoted as saying by The Race:

“I don’t know if it’s a problem with Spa itself – I guess at Monza, if you find a car in the middle of the straight you will not see it, it’s just that poor visibility [in the wet]. It’s something we cannot afford. What happened today, it has to be the last time that happens."

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen also spoke on the matter.

“It’s easy to blame the track, but I think [we should] also look at how wet it was and these kind of things," he said.

It will be interesting to see if the FIA recommends any further changes to the iconic track ahead of the F1 race at the end of the month.