Lance Stroll subject to brutal fan chant after Brazil GP footage emerges

Fan footage from the Brazilian Grand Prix has revealed the moment spectators chanted the name of Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich when Lance Stroll hit trouble on the formation lap.

Aston Martin suffered a torrid weekend at Interlagos, with both Stroll and teammate Fernando Alonso crashing out of the delayed qualifying session on Sunday morning.

Brazil GP fans called for Felipe Drugovich amid Lance Stroll’s woes

These incidents left the team with a hectic rebuilding job ahead of the race, with Alonso forced to revert to older parts.

Alonso was heard complaining of back pain over team radio in the closing stages of the race, having suffered from extreme bouncing on the rebuilt Interlagos circuit.

The two-time world champion was later seen struggling to pull himself out of his car, with non-TV footage from parc ferme showing Alonso resting on his halo for around 15 seconds before exiting his cockpit.

Fernando Alonso vs Lance Stroll Aston Martin head-to-head statistics for F1 2024

F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between teammates

F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Stroll, meanwhile, failed to even start the race after suffering an apparent brake failure at Turn 4 on the formation lap, making light contact with the wall.

In his attempts to rejoin, the Canadian drove straight into the gravel trap and ended up stranding his AMR24.

A clip posted on social media has revealed the moment Brazilian fans taunted Stroll by chanting the name of Drugovich, Aston Martin’s reserve driver since 2022, as he sat still after his collision with the barrier.

The crowd then erupts as Stroll gets stuck in the gravel, bringing an early end to his afternoon.

Despite winning the prestigious F2 (formerly GP2) feeder series – a category previously won by Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri – in 2022, Drugovich has struggled to force himself into the battle for an F1 race seat.

The 24-year-old took part in pre-season testing for Aston Martin in 2023 after Stroll was ruled out through injury and has made two FP1 appearances during the F1 2024 season in Italy and Mexico.

Drugovich, from Maringa, Parana, was briefly linked with a race seat with Audi F1, which will take over from the existing Sauber team in time for the sport’s new rules in F1 2026, earlier this year.

However, reports during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend claimed that his compatriot and McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto, the current leader of the F2 standings, will become Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber team-mate for the F1 2025 season.

If confirmed, Bortoleto’s graduation to an Audi F1 race seat would see the Sao Paulo-born star become the first full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017.

Speaking to reporters after his retirement at Interlagos, Stroll, meanwhile, claimed he was “just a passenger” after his suspected brake failure entering Turn 4 on the parade lap, adding that it “sucked” to be out so early ahead what a chaotic race.

He said: “Really strange.

“As soon as I touched the brakes I had a huge rear lock and was only a passenger from there.

“I’ve never felt it in the car (before) so maybe there was a brake failure problem and we have to look into it.

“It’s a shame. In a race like this anything is possible, so to be out on lap 1 is really unfortunate, but we have to look into what happened.”

Alonso later revealed that he was also hampered by a braking problem at the restarts, which resulted in his braking balance “going completely backwards.”

The Spaniard likened the problem to “braking with a handbrake” and described his own afternoon as “a nightmare” as he battled car and physical complaints.

Read next: The Brazilian GP shows that the time has come for a fresh Lewis Hamilton start