Stroll admits Q3 place was possible

2017 Russian Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll admitted he missed out on an opportunity to put his Williams in the top ten on the grid for the Russian Grand Prix.

Team mate Felipe Massa got his FW40 into Q3 but Stroll languished almost a second off his team mate’s pace in the second part of qualifying.

Qualifying in pictures
“It was a bit unfortunate at the end as I think Q3 was possible, but I just missed out at the end of my lap in Q2,” Stroll explained.

“I didn’t get to do the warm-up lap I wanted, and around here it is quite important to get the tyre working properly.”

“I had a good start to the lap and then I lost a lot of grip in the last sector, made a couple of mistakes and just lost the rear, which wasn’t great. I was a couple of tenths up but didn’t manage to hold it. There is more in it.”

The team’s chief technical officer Paddy Lowe defended Stroll’s efforts. “Given that this is a new circuit and there was a lot of learning to do this weekend, he has done a very respectable job to get the car to 12th.”

Lew described Massa’s qualifying position of sixth as “absolutely fantastic” for the team. “We have split the Red Bulls which should make things interesting tomorrow, especially since we think our race pace looks competitive.”

2017 Russian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    22 comments on “Stroll admits Q3 place was possible”

    1. Andre Furtado
      29th April 2017, 16:01

      He really should leave formula 1 for those for deserve it.

    2. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      29th April 2017, 16:02

      Yeah, Q3 would have been possible but the last time I played F1 on Xbox was probably 2012 and his onboard looked similar to my onboard, hacking at the wheel and just unprofessional. All I want out of Lance tomorrow is a CLEAN race, with some overtakes and maybe some points. He could build off of it with Monaco and his home race Montreal coming up.

      1. Are you saying that Lance should stop playing with a key-board and buy a proper wheel and pedals? ;-)

    3. Making Massa look like Senna

    4. Massa has been doing an incredible job so far this season. Hope his revival continues and he gets to add at-least one podium finish by the end of the season.

      1. …or is it just the change of the yardstick?

    5. His description of the Q2 lap sound like me explaining why I was struggling on a gokart circuit. But I only drive once or twice a year…

    6. I know it may sound counter intuitive to tell a driver to whom the corners appears to be coming very fast at, to just relax.
      Compared to other drivers who are really pushing to get the maximum out of their cars. Stroll appears to be picking up a fight with his car at every point, be it on the straight or at the corners.
      I think he should just allow the car to be free.

      1. That requires talent.

    7. I wonder if Stroll is physically not strong enough. He doesn’t seem to be able to keep the steering wheel in a straight line on the straights, never mind turning for the corners.

      1. In any case, physical mental or craft-wise, he could have done with 2 or 3 more years in junior series if you ask me.

        1. @jeffreyj I agree entirely. I also think, as a result, he’s getting a lot more criticism than he perhaps deserves. Now that Verstappen has come in so successfully, from the age of 17, there appears perhaps a bit of a false assumption that all drivers should be able to jump in and perform well as soon as they are old enough.

          If Stroll came back in a few years it is entirely probable he’d be more ready

          1. @strontium
            There is no illusion that any driver can just jump in and perform in F1 and Stroll is a perfect example of that, hes fully deserving of all the criticism being at a place where he shouldnt be.

            If hes ready for F1 in a few years then he should prove himself in a few years and earn a place in F1.

            1. @rethla surely Williams are equally deserving of criticism for bringing him into a place where he shouldn’t be. I definitely agree he should prove himself and earn a place

            2. @strontium
              Oh yes Williams is a farce running the weakest driver lineup on the grid for money and smiling to the press claming they do a phenomenal job. Their engineers must be crying themself to sleep.

              Still Stroll deserves all the critisism he gets.

    8. Great job from Massa to get 6th.

    9. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      29th April 2017, 19:45

      He is still driving the FW40 like a F3 car – jabbing at the steering and pedals, feeling that he needs to induce grip into the front end and destabilising the aero platform. But is it surprising? Five months ago the fastest car he’d ever driven was an F3 car, and we can’t expect Verstappen-style developmental miracles from everyone.

      But on the flip side Lance could well cost Williams the fourth-placed constructors ranking they look assuredly capable of; especially versus the well-balanced driver line-ups at Toro Rosso and Force India. To hypothetically lose places in the constructors rankings to Lance’s immaturities would represent fundamental mismanagement. Yes, Pat Symonds has said that Williams effectively could not have afforded to deny Lance and his father’s millions, but how can any team allow a driver to impose himself on them when he is fundamentally unprepared for the role? I am sure one or more teams will receive an inordinate offer to run Sean Gelael at some point this season – for obvious reasons he will be ignored.

      But Stroll is different, Stroll is quick. But imagine how much quicker he’d be had he raced an F2 car, and imagine how many more points Williams could be scoring with Wehrlein alongside Massa. A season as an official reserve incorporating an F2 campaign and plenty of testing with enough certainty of a 2018 deal to warrant the advance payment of Daddy’s financial services would have been ultimately best for both parties. Williams don’t lose points to an unprepared rookie, Stroll gets to develop away from the burning scrutiny of the paddock and can make a better impression when he finally does get his chance. Therein, how have Williams allowed themselves to be overcome by the overconfidence and naivety of the Stroll camp?

      1. I get your point, but your first paragraph is naive. Stroll has spend the last year driving the old Williams on almost every circuit on the calendar, racking up (tens of) thousands of miles in that car, which is an F1 car (albeit not the monster of this season). The argument that he only got a taste of F1 when pre-season began is just not true.

    10. It’s like Stroll is a little kid yelling inside his helmet: “Bwaahhh, bwaahhh, bwaahhh!!!!”, sawing at the steering wheel like he’s doing it in the air running down the road.
      Give me a break…

    11. Common, give the kid a chance. He was a second benind Massa. vandorne was half a second behind Alonso. He may indeed suck but I’ll wait until Europe to pass judgement.

      1. Alonso is regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid not Massa. I will admit i was excited for another young driver to come into f1 and was going to give stroll a chance but not anymore he has a top 6 car and fails to get into q3 and finish a race. I dont think he should be in F1 and im Canadian

    12. Luckily Palmer is around in F1 so Stroll isn’t hands down the most rubbish driver on the grid… but Stroll better get his act together by mid season, or Williams will be fishing for a better driver despite the financial resources they will lose with a Stroll exit.

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