Three drivers failed to set a lap time during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

Lance Stroll did not manage to get out on track at all for qualifying in Melbourne (Image: Getty)

Aston Martin had to present evidence of Lance Stroll’s competence behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car to convince the stewards to allow him to take part in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. The Canadian did not set a lap time in qualifying as the team confirmed issues with the engine discovered before final practice earlier in the day had left them unable to get the car ready to go for the session.

As a result, he fell foul of F1’s 107 percent rule, which means drivers only automatically qualify for a Grand Prix if their best time is within 107 percent of the quickest lap set in Q1. In recent seasons it hasn’t been much of a factor as close performance has meant drivers have always set practice lap times fast enough to be allowed to race anyway.

However, as Stroll missed FP3 and because Aston Martin have been suffering from power loss and engine unreliability, he had produced insufficient evidence, as far as the stewards were concerned, to get them to automatically allow the Canadian to race on Sunday. So Aston Martin had to use some of Stroll’s past accomplishments as evidence to sway their decision.

The stewards noted: “We have the power to grant permission if circumstances justify it. These circumstances include taking into account parameters where ‘a suitable lap time [has been] set in another practice session, the general performance of the’driver in competitions of the championship…’”

The stewards said that an Aston Martin team representative had used other evidence to convince them that Stroll was capable of racing on Sunday. That included the fact that team-mate Fernando Alonso had qualified 17th and within the 107 percent time, which was proof that the car was capable of doing so.

Aston Martin also presented some of Stroll’s achievements in F1 as evidence, including the fact he has competed in 178 World Championship races and scored 325 career points, including multiple podium finishes. They also pointed out that Stroll finished fourth in the 2023 Australian GP, which they presented as evidence that he is familiar with the performance demands of the circuit.

In the end, the stewards ruled that the evidence that had been put forward by Aston Martin was “compelling” and gave Stroll permission to start Sunday’s race. However, that will depend on whether the car is capable of competing. The team has already admitted a lack of spare battery parts, while the stewards’ decision document also revealed that Aston Martin had told them the decision not to participate in qualifying was because of a damaged oil line which required further investigation.

No team has been prevented from fielding a car in an F1 Grand Prix through the 107 percent rule since 2012, when HRT were refused permission for both their drivers, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan, to race at that year’s Australian GP. But it has been speculated that the rule could come back into relevance this season with significant performance gaps expected between the front-running teams and the backmarkers early in this new regulations cycle.