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Stroll says Williams car hiding personal development

Published on 12 Aug 2018 13:12
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By: Fergal Walsh

Lance Stroll believes that he has developed as a racing driver over the past year, but the 2018 Williams car has masked his progress. The FW41 has proved to be particularly tricky to drive, and the Grove-team currently sits at the bottom of the constructor's standings.

Stroll made his debut last season with Williams but was met with heavy criticism over the course of his maiden year in the sport. The Canadian was out-performed by veteran teammate Felipe Massa throughout the year, before Massa ceased into retirement at the end of the season.

Stroll has picked up Williams' only points this season after he crossed the line in eighth place in Baku. However, he and teammate Sergey Sirotkin haven't looked close to claiming any more points due to the underperformance of Williams' 2018 challenger.

"There have been some ups and downs but generally I’ve been happy in many ways with my first part of the season,” he said. “As a team, we’re not where we want to be, scoring points. We’ve had our struggles. But I still think I’ve had some good races, I scored points in Baku, I’ve had some other good races, finishing just outside the points. I have had some strong qualifying sessions.

“All in all, I know it’s been frustrating for the team, but from my side, I do believe looking back at last year, over the winter, I have developed as a driver, and this year, a better driver all round.

"The results aren’t showing that because of the struggles we’ve been having. From my side, in many ways it has been positive. I’m going to keep chipping away at it and try and bring more to the table in the second half of the season.”

Fergal Walsh

Olfacius

Posts: 31

I would imagine that developing as a driver would include improving the car by achieving an understanding of what it needs and working with the team to implement subtle changes for performance gain. Sure it might be a dog, but there must be something somewhere to make it less so and move in a pos... [Read more]

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Aug 12 2018 - 14:37

F1 News Felipe Massa Sergey Sirotkin Lance Stroll Williams

Replies (7)

Olfacius

Posts: 31
I would imagine that developing as a driver would include improving the car by achieving an understanding of what it needs and working with the team to implement subtle changes for performance gain. Sure it might be a dog, but there must be something somewhere to make it less so and move in a positive direction...
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- Aug 12 2018 - 14:37
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  You can polish a turd as much as you please, but at the end of the day a turd is a turd. We see with McLaren aswell; if the car is inherently a turd there is little to do but learn from the mistakes and design a better car next year.
  + 0
  
  Aug 12 2018 - 15:02
- F1todayfan101
  
  Posts: 120
  A car which is 3s slower a lap is a car from a different category. The car can't do anything like a fast lap no matter what they do with it and so I don't think that the driver can really make any impact. The poor lad might be as fast as Kimi for all we know!
  + 0
  
  Aug 12 2018 - 15:18
F1todayfan101

Posts: 120
Don't worry Lance, you'll be in a better car in a few weeks!
- + 0
- Aug 12 2018 - 15:19
f1dave

Posts: 782
"Lance Stroll believes" I'm sure he does, just like some people believe in fairies.
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- Aug 12 2018 - 15:40
kngrthr

Posts: 203
", before Massa ceased into retirement at the end of the season."

when's the funeral ?
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- Aug 13 2018 - 08:12
boudy

Posts: 1,168
Not sure if Stroll has improved since last year. How can we compare him? One thing is for sure that not having an solid positive driver han't helped in the progress of Williams.

How much is this todo with the interaction between driver and technical staff? Force India seems to have gone backwards also so is this more of an issue of with too much reliance on their Mercedes PU?
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- Aug 13 2018 - 11:35