STROLL TAKES IT IN STRIDE

MONTREAL — It was a short workday Saturday for Lance Stroll at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Montreal native, who drives for the Williams Formula One team, failed to advance past the first qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix after finishing 17th. It marks the fifth time in seven races this season that the 19-year-old has failed to advance past Q1 while driving a Williams car that has had plenty of issues.

“It is frustrating at the moment,” Stroll said. “We’re not where we want to be. But I’m always going to be striving to get the most out of myself and improve my driving and give direction to the team what can be better on the car. My job hasn’t changed. Wherever we are on the grid, I’m always trying to get the most out of the package that’s available to me. It’s a long season.”

Stroll sits in 16th place in the F1 drivers’ standings with four points from an eighth-place finish in Azerbaijan, the only time he has cracked the top 10. He finished 11th at the Spanish Grand Prix. Tweaks Williams made to their cars during the winter to improve cornering speeds have backfired and sacrificed straight-line speed.

“We’ve lost a good chunk in our strong point and we haven’t gained enough in our weak point,” Stroll said earlier this season.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won the pole position in qualifying after setting a course record with a lap of one minute, 10.776 seconds around the 4.361-kilometre track. Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes will start second, followed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.