Spotlight firmly on Stroll after brilliant podium in Baku

6-year-old English football mascot dies of cancer

The spotlight is on teenage driver Lance Stroll at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix following his brilliant podium finish two weeks ago.

The 18-year-old Canadian produced the drive of his young career to finish third at the Azerbaijan GP, answering his critics in style.

Having secured a podium in just the eighth race of his career, he now has a strong platform to build on.

"For sure he's young, he has a lot to learn but he proved that he's growing," Williams teammate Felipe Massa said, with a "much better performance than (observers) were expecting."

At 36, Massa is twice Stroll's age and knows all about the pressures of F1. He was agonizingly close to winning the F1 title when driving for Ferrari — losing it to Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the 2008 season.

Now in his last year in F1, Massa is committed to helping Stroll.

"I met him when he was seven or eight years old, so I really have no problem to pass on everything I can to help him," the Brazilian said. "He's a lot more confident."

Stroll was once part of the prestigious driver academy at Ferrari where he first met Massa.

Although Stroll won last year's European Formula 3 championship by a large margin, being the son of billionaire investor Lawrence Stroll allowed critics the freedom to speculate his seat at Williams was more down to financial backing than his own talent.

Failure to finish four of the first six races of his debut season gave those critics even more ammunition. Stroll responded with ninth at his home GP in Montreal and followed that up with his brilliant performance in Baku — narrowly missing out on second place to Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas.

"Before, I just did not have the confidence to push the car, because the car was just not giving me what I needed," Stroll said. "(The car) is also getting more from me."

Massa's experience, Stroll says, will prove vital over the course of the year.

"At the moment I am at a stage in my career where I do not always know what I need from the car and Felipe does," Stroll said. "I need to start feeling what needs to be done with the car. Sometimes it might go in the wrong direction, but it is a learning process." Bradley Lowery, a soccer mascot who struck up a close friendship with England striker Jermain Defoe after being diagnosed with a rare cancer and gained fans across the sport, has died. He was 6.

Lowery's family said yesterday in a statement on its Facebook page that he died in the arms of his mother and father.

The statement said "he was our little superhero and put the biggest fight up but he was needed elsewhere."

Lowery, who had neuroblastoma, was a mascot for then-English Premier League team Sunderland several times last season and formed a bond with Defoe, who now plays for Bournemouth.

"He will always be in my heart for the rest of my life," Defoe said the day before Bradley died.

Lowery also was a mascot for an England game at Wembley Stadium in March, and supporters of different clubs made banners and chanted his name at games.

Sunderland said in a statement: "Bradley captured the hearts and minds of everyone at our club with his indomitable spirit, tremendous courage and beautiful smile, which could light up even the darkest of rooms.

"Despite battling neuroblastoma for much of his all too short life, he demonstrated a bravery and fortitude beyond his years that humbled us all. He was truly an inspiration."

Soccer fans had hoped a massive fundraising effort last year could get him to the United States for pioneering treatment, but Lowery's family announced in December that his cancer was terminal.

World soccer's governing body FIFA tweeted: "Today, the football world lost one of its bravest fans."