Lance Stroll pulled out of the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, hours before the race was due to begin, following a huge crash in qualifying that destroyed his Aston Martin.

Stroll was pushing hard to progress from the first qualifying session on Saturday night when he lost control after running over the kerbs at the final turn and careered into the barriers opposite the pit lane at the Marina Bay street circuit.

The remains of the car, with Stroll in the cockpit, bounced back onto the track to be narrowly avoided by the McLaren of Lando Norris as red flags halted the session.

The Canadian driver got out of the car unaided and later was cleared of injury by the official Formula One medical team.

But hours before the lights were due to go out on Sunday's night race in Singapore, the Aston Martin team issued a statement saying Stroll was still not 100 percent and would sit out in order to recover fully for next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

"Following Lance's crash in qualifying during the Singapore Grand Prix, Lance and Aston Martin have jointly agreed that he will not participate in the Singapore Grand Prix this evening," Aston Martin said.

"The team face a huge job repairing the car today and understandably Lance is still sore following such a high impact. Lance's focus now shifts to fully recovering ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix."

dh/mtp

© Agence France-Presse