Lance Stroll was ecstatic to have got his points tally off to a start in Canada, as the 18-year-old fought from seventeenth on the grid to ninth. Stroll was disappointed after qualifying not to make it out of Q1 in front of the home fans but feels he gave them a good show on the way to collecting some points.
The young man who grew up only minutes from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve made a decent start, collecting a number of position on the first lap by overtaking, and was also helped by the misfortunes of Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa who were all caught up in an incident.
"I am just happy for myself, for the team, for everyone," Stroll said. "The balance of the car was good all race. I was in a flow. I knew we had good straight line speed in the Williams. I chose my overtakes at the right times, sometimes I could have done them a lap earlier, but it was a bit risky so I did it a lap later and stayed patient.
"James, my engineer, was giving me good communications throughout the whole race about what was happening around us. We just stayed cool-headed and took it to the end and P9. It was about things falling into place and getting everything to work with no issues and being able to do the pace we know how to do. It means the world to me being able to finish a race in the points and be able to see those Canadian flags up in the air at my race."
Fergal Walsh
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Happy for the kid, drove a great race