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Adam Cooper

Stroll laughs off F1 to tennis switch rumours

The idea has been floating around on social media in recent days and has been mentioned by Sky F1 commentator David Croft.

This year Stroll has struggled to match Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso, which has led some to speculate that he might be reconsidering his future.

However, the 24-year-old is adamant that he won’t be switching sports any time soon.

“Well, if I'm going to go on tour, I’d better work on my backhand a little bit, because I don't think I'm quite at that level yet,” he joked when asked about the rumours.

“I mean, I like to think I'm pretty good. But I don't know if I'm ready to go up against [Novak] Djokovic and [Carlos] Alcaraz just yet.”

Regarding the source of the speculation he added: “It was like Crofty or someone who came up with that. He was having a few beers on the couch [at the] beginning of August, thinking about my tennis game. I don't know!

“Gotta ask him. That was an odd one. I don't know where he came up with that one. It was very creative. But, yeah, I haven't really thought about it, picking up tennis as a career.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR23 (Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images)

Asked by Autosport if he could imagine waking up one day and deciding to stop racing Stroll suggested that such a time comes for all racing drivers.

“One day we're all going to wake up and make that decision, I think every driver on this grid," he said. 

"But right now I'm thinking about the race tomorrow. For sure I want to keep racing. It's what I love to do.”

Stroll will start Sunday’s Dutch GP from 11th place after admitting that he didn’t quite time his change to new tyres right in Q2.

“I think we were just a little bit early on the last set of inters in Q2, when the track was drying up and at its best,” he said.

“We were on our third lap on that tyre, and I could just feel the tyre is getting chewed up by the track drying up, so didn't really get the peak of a tyre at the right time in the session.

“It's all about that today. I mean, those are the kinds of things that you’ve got to be spot-on with today. And you know, sometimes you get it right. Just missed it a bit.

“Changing conditions, are always tough. But I was feeling good in the car. I think tomorrow we can have a good race.”

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