25/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Lance Stroll, who ahead of his debut F1 season, controversially enjoyed a £60m ($80m) private test programme at a number of race tracks including Monza, Hungary, Austin, Barcelona, Abu Dhabi and Silverstone in a 2014 Williams with a crew that included 5 Mercedes engineers - two of the German manufacturer's engines having been purchased in the process - and twenty other staff members, headed back to the Circuit of the Americas following the Canadian Grand Prix to test in preparation for this weekend's Azerbaijan event.
Having opened his points account in Canada, Stroll headed to Austin not merely to prepare for the physicality of the Baku track but to help with his understanding of set-ups and learn where he is losing out to teammate Felipe Massa.
In the wake of a strong performance in qualifying yesterday, which marked the Canadian's first Q3 appearance of the year and saw him out-qualify Massa for the first time, Symonds was asked about the youngster's remarkable turnaround in form.
"They made some changes, they did some work with him," said Lowe, before adding: "He went to Austin last week driving the 2014 car, so he did a few experiments there with set-up, looking at the differences between his set-up and Felipe's. Some of that has been brought forward here and I think that's put him in a much better place."
Confirming the changes were "generic things, common to most racing cars", Lowe said the test "definitely helped" the youngster, revealing that the Canadian will have further tests this year ahead of races at circuits he hasn't already experienced.
"It's track time," explained the Briton. "They had a whole day to do some straightforward experiments with stable, good sets of tyres and run a programme. They're fairly generic set-up directions that apply equally on a 2014 car as a 2017 car.
"The trouble on a (GP) Friday is you've got limited time," he continued, "limited numbers of tyres, they're often not the same type of tyre, then the track's changing quite quickly as well. It's a great advantage to be able to go and spend a whole day on something."
"He's on great form this weekend and it's clear that, as we hoped from his result in Canada, the confidence he took from there has carried through to this weekend. He's been absolutely spot-on in every session.
"There were only three drivers that didn't set a yellow (on Friday)," he added, "and one of them was Lance. And he was pushing, just not falling off. It's a difficult circuit, so to push here and leave the right margin is really tough."
"This weekend I've felt really on it," said Stroll, "knowing when is the right time to push or not.
"I feel like I've made a step on my side this weekend in that area for sure," he added. "I'm really happy about that, it's a combination of everyone working together, the engineers giving me better information and getting more experience with the tyres."
Having struggled in a number of recent qualifying sessions, most notably Spain and Monaco, Stroll says the COTA test allowed him to get back to taking a set-up direction "similar to the beginning of the year", and this, combined with better communication with his engineers and understanding of the tyres, has resulted in his improved form this weekend.
"There's a combination of reasons why. Improving on areas I needed to improve on, I think I'm starting to figure it out, and also with the car taking directions similar to the beginning of the year... we drifted away from that direction and I feel a lot more confident and comfortable with that set-up. Everything has been going well this weekend and that brings the result."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Baku, here.