Not quite a Stroll in the Park

Jewish Canadian Formula 1 (F1) driver Lance Stroll finished 14th in a forgettable Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park last weekend, while rookie teammate Sergey Sirotkin did not finish after an early rear-brake failure in his debut race.

Last season’s retirement of F1 veteran Felipe Massa ensured Williams Martini Racing would be led by Stroll, a 19-year-old starting out in just his second F1 season, but ultimately his inexperience wasn’t to blame for the team’s poor season-opening performance.

Last month, Williams announced its new car for 2018, the FW41, which at this early stage has fallen well short of team expectations, and Stroll didn’t mince his words when he spoke to the media post-race about the underperforming machine.

“We are just basically trying to get the car to the end of the race instead of racing,” Stroll said.

“There was a lot going on today with big issues that cost us a lot of race time. I hope we can find the solution before Bahrain.”

The car struggled in pre-season testing and now a poor start to the racing season doesn’t bode well for Williams, which will be battling against its mid-field rivals who are on the rapid incline, with the least experienced driver line-up in its history.

In Friday’s practice runs, Stroll managed to place 14th and 15th, with a best lap time of 1 minute, 25.54 seconds.

The following day’s qualifying took place in tricky conditions after the track was battered with rain. Stroll recovered late in Q1 to progress to Q2 where his first run saw him in pole 11 (P11) but a late slip-up in the second run resulted in him slipping to P14 for Sunday’s race.

In typical Melbourne fashion, conditions cleared up and the forecast storm held off until an hour or so after the race’s completion, but Williams struggled and had to settle with Stroll’s 14th placing. He lost a spot early to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and then to Sauber’s Charles Leclerc under the safety car restart.

Stroll was under immediate pressure early into his F1 career last season after he failed to score points in the opening six Grand Prix starts.

Romantically, he scored his first points in his home race in Montreal but the spotlight on his place in F1 intensified with compatriot and 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve calling him one of the worst performing rookies in F1 history. The young Canadian responded in the most emphatic way possible, becoming the second-youngest podium finisher in the sport’s history in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo won.

Stroll is the son of billionaire Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, who is the owner of the Circuit Mont-Tremblant, and Belgian fashion designer Claire-Anne Callens.

AARON FETTER