The search to unmask the secret rally tester on the current F1 grid has taken a fresh twist after Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was spotted trying a rally car in Portugal last weekend.

It was claimed last summer that an active F1 star had been testing a rally car “in massive secrecy” with the unnamed driver reportedly impressing on the stages.

Lance Stroll spotted testing rally car as F1 mystery takes fresh twist

Red Bull star and reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen was immediately ruled out as the driver in question despite voicing his willingness to try other forms of motorsport over recent years.

Many assumed that Valtteri Bottas, the then-Sauber star, was the driver at the centre of the rumours.

Bottas is known to be a passionate rally enthusiast, having finished fifth in the Arctic Lapland Rally – behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta WRC, the same car driver in competition by eight-time rally champion Sebastien Ogier in 2017/18 – in January 2019.

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, however, Bottas confirmed that he was not the driver concerned, insisting that “it’s someone else.”

Stroll is currently preparing for his ninth full season in F1, having made his debut with Williams at the age of 18 in 2017.

And the Canadian has sparked suggestions that he is the secret rally tester, having been spotted on the stages last weekend.

Various clips posted to social media have shown Stroll on the gravel behind the wheel of a Rally2-spec Citroen C3 car in the Fafe region of Portugal.

Fafe is one of the most famous landmarks on the World Rally Championship calendar, with the stage named after the area featuring arguably the most recognisable jump section of the season.

Stroll’s rallying exploits come after his Aston Martin team-mate, the two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, revealed that he will consider a switch to the stages once his illustrious F1 career is over.

Alonso, who will turn 44 later this year and recently revealed that he will treat the F1 2026 campaign as his last season, previously competed in the Dakar Rally with Toyota during his two-year F1 sabbatical, finishing a distant 13th in 2019.

In a recent appearance on the Asi Empece podcast, Alonso said: “One of the challenges I still have to win is the Dakar Rally – or rallies in general.

‘In rallying, you have a co-driver next to you who tells you the route, but you also have to have both feet on the pedal for almost the entire stage because that’s how you stabilise the rally cars. And you have to play with the weight when cornering and braking.

‘It’s a completely different technique than in formula cars, because if you do that there, you burn up your brakes and use a lot of fuel.

“And what’s more, the car doesn’t move because of the weight, but because of the aerodynamics.

“I love racing. I’ve had a steering wheel in my hand since I was three years old.

“Now I’m 43, so I’ve been driving for 40 years. I don’t think it will be possible to just quit overnight and never drive again.”

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Last week marked the 14th anniversary of Robert Kubica’s devastating accident behind the wheel of a rally car in February 2011, in which the then-Renault F1 driver suffered life-changing injuries after a barrier penetrated the cockpit.

Kubica made a sensational return to F1 with Williams in 2019, scoring the team’s only point of that year in a rain-affected race at Hockenheim.

Speaking via the Gurulandia podcast, Kubica, now 40, revealed that he suffered 42 bone fractures and lost three quarters of blood in the accident.

He said: “Honestly, I remember little of what happened because I was in a coma for so long.

“I arrived at the hospital with one-and-a-half litres of blood, whereas a human body has six or seven.

“The right side of my body was all smashed up. I had 42 fractures and from my toe to my elbow I was all broken.”

“I am human. For six or seven months I lost all feeling and I was not moving anything.

“I was trying to move my finger, but I could do it and it was a feeling that only those who have experienced it can understand.

“The day I succeeded, I felt an absurd joy.”

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