Canadian F1 rookie ready for big show
Stroll, 18, has first race for Williams this weekend
It is rare to realize a life’s dream at an early age, but you could see it coming for Formula One racing rookie Lance Stroll.
The 18-year-old driver for the Williams F1 team will make his debut in motor racing’s top series this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix. He will be the secondyoungest to race in F1 after Max Verstappen, who began at 17 for Toro Rosso in 2015 before being promoted to the Red Bull team and winning the Spanish Grand Prix last summer. Stroll landed the Williams ride after he became the youngest champion of the European Formula 3 series last year, winning 14 of 30 races.
“I’ve progressed a lot and I think I’ve reached a level of driving that I was aiming for,” Stroll said after winning the title. “But there is still a lot to learn because you always need to adapt to a higher level.”
He also had the benefit of financial help from his billionaire father Lawrence Stroll, a diehard racing and Ferrari fan who has not hesitated to dip into his vast resources to help his son reach his goals.
Some reports estimated Lawrence Stroll, who made his fortune in the fashion industry, spent at least US$40 million to get his son a seat in F1.
Lance Stroll acknowledges the money helped, but he still had to prove himself on the track.
“For sure it’s important to have sponsorships in F1 because, as we’ve seen, there have been good drivers who didn’t make it because they didn’t have solid backing,” Stroll said in a recent interview. “It shouldn’t be like that but it is, so it’s good to have support.”
Money can’t buy talent, but that’s not a problem for Stroll.
Vince Loughran, who runs the Mont-Tremblant track north of Montreal owned by Stroll’s father, said the young driver was impressive from the outset.
“I worked at Mont-Tremblant when Gilles Villeneuve came to take (race) driving lessons in 1973,” he said of the former Ferrari ace who died in a crash at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.
“I also saw Gilles’ brother Jacques and his son Jacques Villeneuve (the 1997 F1 champion for Williams) take lessons here. “Now, it’s Lance’s turn.” Stroll’s racing education was later taken on by Hugo Mousseau, who met him in 2008 when he was an instructor at SH Karting in Mont St. Hilaire, Que. He said Stroll was shy at first, but soon broke out of his shell and became an eager student.
“He learned not to blame others for his setbacks and that’s what allowed him to progress so quickly,” Mousseau said.
“He understood early on that it takes hours of work to get results.”
The big move came in 2010 when his family relocated to Geneva, joined the Ferrari Academy and began Kart racing across Europe.
He graduated to single-seaters in 2014 and took part in the Italian F4 series with Prema PowerTeam.
Then came F3, where he developed a reputation as a quick and aggressive driver. He also left Ferrari to join the Williams development team.
The British squad then decided to give him a shot at Formula One.