A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
18-year-old Lance Stroll becomes first Canadian on Formula One podium since Jacques Villeneuve.
Lance Stroll became the youngest Formula One rookie to finish a Grand Prix race on the podium, finishing third in Azerbaijan on Sunday. And the 18-yearold was the first Canadian to celebrate a podium finish since Jacques Villeneuve at the German Grand Prix in 2001.
“I’m just lost for words,” said Stroll, who is originally from Montreal. “I can’t describe how I feel, it’s beyond amazing.”
Stroll was metres from the finish line — and a second-place finish — when Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas overtook him. Still, his performance was widely praised as brilliant.
“It’s a very intense day,” a smiling Stroll said in French after the race. “There were plenty of surprises. It’s an extraordinary result.
“Unfortunately, I lost second place to Valterri, who came by very fast and caught me right at the end.”
Stroll celebrated the first podium finish of his career with a Formula One tradition — he drank champagne from the sweaty boot of the race winner, Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.
Not surprisingly, Stroll cringed after his first gulp.
The finish comes as much needed relief for Stroll, who had failed to win a point in the first six races of the season — and had failed to finish four. The son of a billionaire, Stroll’s performance had been sharply criticized by Villeneuve, a fellow Quebecer who was F1 champion in 1997. The retired driver told autoweek.com earlier this month that Stroll’s freshman year “is one of the worst rookie performances in the history of Formula 1.”
Stroll’s performance in Baku put him in 12th position among F1 drivers, with 17 points. It’s the second race in a row he finished in the top10, after a ninth-place result in Montreal.
“You dream of being on an F1 podium, you work towards that and it finally comes true,” he told Sky Sports. “It was such a hectic race and I kept my head cool, the team kept me cool over the radio and we took it to the end.”
Stroll, who drives for the Britishbased Williams Martini Racing team, is the youngest driver on the F1 circuit and the second youngest in the history of the sport. His father, fashion entrepreneur Lawrence Stroll, was on hand to watch his son’s historic finish. Media reports estimate the elder Stroll spent at least $40 million (U.S.) to get his son into the cockpit of an F1car.
“I don’t listen to that stuff, it’s just people talking,” Stroll said defiantly Sunday, when reminded of accusations that his father’s financial backing of the Williams team got Stroll the job. “I’m just happy for myself, happy for my team, my friends, family. The rest is all just noise in the background and I don’t really care for it.”
In a March rofile of Stroll, the Star’s Paul Hunter noted that Lawrence Stroll bought his son a go-kart when he was only 5. Stroll competed in his first race three years later.
When Stroll was 11, he was spotted by talent scouts from the legendary Ferrari racing team and signed to its driving academy. He was one of only six young prospects there.
In Baku, Stroll survived an eventful race in the six-kilometre street circuit through the city’s medieval walls and along the Caspian Sea.
The safety car came out three times in quick succession before a red flag stopped the grand prix near the midway point — lap 22 of 51 — because debris littered the track.
At one point, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel were involved in an incident that threatened to sour their good relations.
While behind a safety car, Hamilton, who was in the lead, appeared to slow his car right in front of Vettel, causing Vettel to drive into him. An irate Vettel then accelerated alongside Hamilton and appeared to de- liberately swerve back into him.
Vettel was given a 10-second stopand-go penalty, but Hamilton lost valuable time changing a loose headrest at the same time.
Hamilton was on Vettel’s tail on the last lap, but could not overtake. Vettel finished fourth, just ahead of Hamilton. After eight races, Vettel leads Hamilton by 14 points in the drivers’ championship.
But the day belonged to Stroll. “To be here today on the podium is a part of the dream come true,” he said.