MONTREAL, Canada -- Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe says Lance Stroll's first points at the Canadian Grand Prix "felt like a win" after the teenager's difficult start to life in Formula One.
Stroll turned in a spirited drive at his home race to finish ninth, making up for a disappointing qualifying session which had seen him start 17th. The Canadian entered the sport this year backed by his billionaire father Lawrence, leading to some labelling him a "pay driver", a reputation enhanced by several accidents early in the season.
Stroll's results in his first six races were disappointing and often a long way down on teammate Felipe Massa, with his disappointing qualifying attempt in Montreal leading to a long and animated meeting at the Williams hospitality centre between Lowe and the Strolls on Saturday evening. However, he made amends the following day with a drive Lowe thinks was the perfect response to those who have questioned whether the 18-year-old belongs in the sport.
"I know it was only ninth, but it seriously felt like a race win, just because we all know it's been a very, very difficult introduction to the sport for him," Lowe said. "We've all felt for him and especially in the team willing him to be better and to make the progress. I think he went out there today and just showed that he can drive."
On the opening lap, Williams teammate Felipe Massa was punted out of the race, leaving Stroll to carry the team's hopes for points. Despite a solid first stint which saw him as high as 10th and a chaotic start to the race, Stroll emerged from his first stop in 16th and in the thick of the action.
But Stroll stayed patient and climbed through the order, passing McLaren duo Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso for 10th, before Daniil Kvyat's retirement elevated him into the ninth. Lowe thinks Stroll showed his real talent during the race.
"The talent was all there, the race-craft was fantastic. Those points didn't fall in his lap, he went and fought for them. I don't know if we got an overall count of the number of overtakes ... but it was a lot. Almost ten or something, including a double world champion who he dueled with a the end. And actually handled some pretty tricky situations with traffic into Turn 1 and lots of stuff that could have easily been mishandled.
"So to do that in his home race... I understand there was extra crowd here because we had a Canadian driver, so it's good to give them that reward. But yeah the benefits are immeasurable. He's going to have himself so much more confidence that he now knows what it takes. You know they say in this sport that when you've won your first race all the rest of them are so much easier? I'm sure it's the same with points and I hope we'll see that he's out of the starting blocks and we'll see it come into play now."
On several occasions during entertaining duels with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, Stroll appeared hesitant when an overtaking opportunity was on, but Lowe says this was proof the teenager is maturing in how he approaches races.
"He said afterwards about that there were those few times and he just thought 'it's a long race, I'll get him next time' rather than taking that risk and it ending in tears. So that's really mature, sensible driving. That was the best position he was going to get from 17th and he did with the right sort of control.
"As always with these cars there's a lot of things that are on the edge, he had some issues with keeping brake temperatures in control, keeping some engine temperatures in control, the left front had signs of not lasting the race and he managed that at a certain point, so he did everything that he needed to do. I think we've seen the real Lance there today, now hopefully we can see him more regularly."