11/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Lance Stroll finished ninth to claim his first ever Formula One points in front of his home crowd at today's Canadian Grand Prix. Felipe's race unfortunately ended at Turn 3 on lap one, after Sainz collided with Grosjean and collected Felipe as he crashed out.
Lance had a great start, moving up to 15th from 17th during the opening lap. Following an early safety car and a virtual safety car period, Lance ran as high as P9, after passing Vandoorne at the Turn 10 hairpin on lap 15.
Lance made his first and only pitstop of the race on lap 27 for a set of supersoft tyres. He rejoined the race in P17 but quickly started to gain positions on fresh tyres.
Lance made some great overtaking manoeuvres to pass Wehrlein, Ericsson, Palmer, Grosjean, Vandoorne and Alonso on his way to P10; before moving up to P9 as a result of Kvyat's retirement to claim his maiden Formula One points.
Felipe is now 10th in the Drivers' Championship, while Lance moves up to 16th. The team retains sixth in the Constructors' Championship with 22 points.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: A huge congratulations to Lance. He's the first Canadian in Formula One since Jacques Villeneuve, and now he's scored his first points at his home race. It's a great story. Given the difficult start Lance has had to his Formula One career, this feels like a race win to us. It was an incredible drive. He showed some fantastic race-craft, great overtaking and he really earned those points today. From 17th on the grid up to ninth, including a battle with a double world champion, which he took in his stride. I think today's result will boost his confidence going forward and will give him some real momentum. On the other side of the garage, Felipe had an unfortunate race. He actually had a good start, but then lost a few places as a result of the jostling that normally takes place at Turns 1 and 2 at this race. He was then collected by Carlos, through no fault of his own. With the pace of the car this weekend it's very unfortunate. We could have scored some very good points. We're now looking ahead to Azerbaijan. The car should be reasonably strong there so we'll give it another go.
Lance Stroll: I am just happy for myself, for the team, for everyone. 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.
Felipe Massa: I'm so disappointed to be out after just three corners. I was a complete passenger in the collision. I think Carlos was hit by somebody, but I was the only car that he hit. It's a shame to finish the race like that, especially when the car has been so competitive all weekend and we could have scored a good amount of points.