$3.7b Formula 1 heir Lance Stroll goes full brat in heated meltdown

Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll has become “distressed” after a shocking meltdown that turned physical on camera.

Lance Stroll was seen pushing his personal trainer. Photo: Kayo.

Lance Stroll may have finally become what everyone told him he was.

The Aston Martin driver was seen shoving his personal trainer as part of an emotional meltdown at the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday morning.

The 24-year-old was cut at the end of the first qualifying session, finishing 17th.

He was visibly at breaking point when he returned to the pits.

Cameras showed Stroll tossed his steering wheel console away as he hopped out the car.

That was just the start of his angry outburst.

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Sky Sports cameras captured the moment his personal trainer waved a finger towards him as he hopped out the car. The cameras followed Stroll to the back of the garage where he was seen shoving his personal trainer backwards.

Stroll followed it up with an ugly post-session interview where he gave one-word answers to basic questions.

The petulant display is everything the world has said about the Canadian since he entered the sport on the back of his billionaire father Lawrence Stroll coughing up millions of dollars.

Stroll Sr, who has a net worth recently valued at $3.7 billion, paid $80 million to Williams to first get his son behind the wheel of Formula 1 car and then moved to Aston Martin on the back of his father buying a majority share of the Racing Point team.

Because of his privileges, Stroll has always been judged harsher than some — but there’s no defending him any more.

Lance Stroll was seen pushing his personal trainer. Photo: Kayo.

Stroll’s classless post-session interview may have been the worst thing he could have done for his image.

When asked what his emotions were, Stroll responded: “Yeah, it’s s***”.

Stroll was then asked what isn’t clicking for him at the moment, and replied: “I don’t know”.

When asked what his mindset will be for rest of the weekend, Stroll said two words: “Keep driving”.

He was walking away before the interviewer had a chance to ask a further question.

A visibly frustrated Lance Stroll reacts to his Q1 exit#F1#QatarGPpic.twitter.com/b41L80g9f1

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 6, 2023

His behaviour has been torched across the Formula 1 world.

The Sky Sports commentary team didn’t hold back when speaking about it on the TV broadcast.

Presenter Naomi Schiff said of Stroll’s shove: “Look at this in slow motion. He really puts a lot of energy into that shove and that’s really totally inappropriate behaving that way.

“No matter how disappointing your day has been. Those are the people who work to get you on the track. To make it happen. You can’t be treating them like that.

“It’s one thing to have a bad day, come out the car and apologise. You can’t come out and act that way. it’s just not good enough.

“He’s clearly distressed. We’ve got to empathise because he’s a human being. He’s got his emotions and he’s obviously going through something, but that doesn‘t make it OK.”

Stroll has been knocked out in Q1 in his past four races and hasn’t scored a championship point since before the summer break.

Lance Stroll in Qatar. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images.

He is losing his qualifying head to head battle with teammate Fernando Alonso 15-2.

He is also being thrashed by Alonso in the championship standings with just 47 points compared to Alonso’s 174.

He was more than 1.1 seconds slower than his former world championship teammate in Q1.

Sky commentators Simon Lazenby and Karun Chandhok said they are concerned for Stroll.

“I’ve spoke to him many times after many races and I’ve never seen him that down before after things have not gone his way in a race or qualifying and he just looks completely fed up with everything,” Lazenby said.

Chandhok said: “He just doesn’t look like a driver who is happy. He just looks absolutely miserable. Overall as the season has unfolded... it’s gone on a little bit of a slope.”

There was also huge drama for Aussie Oscar Piastri, who was demoted to sixth after finishing the session in P3.

Starting grid for the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday

Front row Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull), George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)

2nd row Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin)

3rd row Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari), Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren)

4th row Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine), Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine)

5th row Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo), Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)

6th row Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri), Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari)

7th row Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull), Alexander Albon (THA/Williams)

8th row Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Haas), Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams)

9th row Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin), Liam Lawson (NZL/AlphaTauri)

10th row Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas), Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo)

— with AFP