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Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe says that Lance Stroll jumped to Formula 1 too early in his career, but admits he saw a vast improvement over the course of the Canadian's two-year stint at the Grove squad.
Stroll joined Williams in 2017 after winning the FIA Formula 3 European championship and stayed for a second year this season. In 2019, Stroll will race with Racing Point, as his father now owns a controlling stake in the Silverstone outfit.
Stroll achieved a best finish of third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last season, but had a tough 2018 campaign, as Williams failed to produce a car capable of competing in the midfield pack. Speaking about the 20-year-old, Lowe says that his form improved dramatically in his second year.
“With Lance, his second year in Formula 1, my personal view is that in hindsight he came into Formula 1 too early,” Lowe told RACER. “There are a number of reasons for that, but I think he would have been better to come a year later when he was better prepared.
“It was a really, really tough year for him last year but we have seen him make a real step change over the winter. He’s been much stronger this year, particularly in his qualifying which was a difficult part for him last year. But he’s completely transformed his approach to qualifying this year and that’s played out well for him. And then becoming more confident as a driver, therefore getting some better results from that.”
Lowe pointed out that Sergey Sirotkin, Stroll's 2018 teammate, had much more racing experience before entering F1: “In Sergey’s case, a rookie but a rookie who was ready for Formula 1. Very, very committed. Trained and worked incredibly hard and a really great team player. Always the team and what the team needed uppermost in his mind.
“He’s been a really important component of what we’ve been doing this year through what were very difficult times. He’s always been very practical and level-headed about everything, even at the worst moments, and that goes a long way in a team that’s struggling.”
Paddy came to Williams to early also. But Not one year, he just shouldn't be here at all :D
Stroll did seem to do better towards the latter half of the season, but it's hard to tell how well he actually did in the Williams car. Now he will be in a good car against a pretty good teammate. I'm predicting Perez will best him unless somehow he gets handed some advantage from the team/daddy.
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juju_hound
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Paddy came to Williams to early also. But Not one year, he just shouldn't be here at all :D