Lance Stroll talked about a low-flying medical helicopter in F1 British GP, which initially he thought may have disrupted his car, as Alan van der Merwe clarified why racing could take place even with no medical helicopter.

An amusing and somewhat unique story emerged from F1 British GP involving Aston Martin’s Stroll. It related to the medical helicopter flying very low when the Canadian approached the Wellington Straight, which perhaps disrupted his running.

Stroll was immediately on the radio to ask his engineer to check the car, but he responded with no troubles. The Canadian couldn’t hear him speak too until he passed the helicopter. The exact lap couldn’t be ascertained, but it was between Lap 30 to Lap 40.

 The exchange between Stroll and his engineer went:

Stroll:  “Check car!”

Engineer: “Tyres are all good, Tyres are all good.”

Stroll: “Think it might have been the helicopter that came really low!, I can’t hear you!”

Engineer: “Tyres are all good! Tyres are good.”

Stroll: “Yeah, then it’s the helicopter that came really low.”

It was the medical helicopter which was carrying Red Bull’s Verstappen to the hospital. Stroll thought he had a malfunction in his Aston Martin, which shows to a large extent that drivers are concentrating so hard that they really do pick everything that happens.

An onboard video showed the helicopter a bit low, which possibly just commenced its journey and starting its ascent and as a result was low-flying to begin. That could explain Stroll’s slight panic as he initiated the conversation as above.

Post-race, there were points raised by several that how could the race take place with no medical helicopter on site, but medical car driver Alan van der Merwe, clarified that the F1 grand prix can continue if there is provision to reach the hospital in time by road.

Van Der Merwe also informed that it was not the usual take off direction of the medical helicopter, which perhaps caught Stroll out. Here’s what he said:

Here’s the video of Lance Stroll talking about low helicopter: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.lance-stroll-complains-about-low-helicopter-at-british-gp.1705704955558424644.html

The article was co-written by Neil Farrell

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