Lance Stroll is refusing to be put off by the "haters" who continue to question his ability as he offered himself a somewhat generous rating of his first season in Formula 1 with Williams.
The young Canadian was one of the more polarising figures to make it on the grid in 2017 despite making the leap as champion from the European F3 category from last year. Instead, the focus was on the large financial backing his billionaire fashion mogul father Lawrence Stroll was putting in to the Grove team, earning the 19-year-old the label of a 'pay driver' for many.
A slow start to the year didn't help with three consecutive retirements but as the year has progressed, Stroll has begun to show better consistency and showed maturity in Baku by keeping his nose clean in a crazy race and becoming the sport's youngest podium scorer.
“There is always room for improvement,” he admitted to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport when rating his season. “So it’s not 10. I would say a strong 8.5.
“Looking at the season, I have to say there have been very challenging times. Especially at the beginning but we had a really good season, scoring a lot of points. A 9 would be too good though.”
Currently, there is a great deal of speculation over who will be partnering Stroll at Williams in 2018 after Felipe Massa announced his retirement for the second year in a row prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica is thought to be leading the race for the seat although former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya this week brandished that idea as a "joke".
1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve also added his view claiming Stroll needed a "slower" teammate in 2018, but his fellow countryman pushed back on such criticism.
“I don’t focus on what is said or written about me,” he claimed. “I do not read the newspapers or listen to the jealousy and the haters. It’s been important to keep a cool head.
“I won everything until Formula 1. I have proven to myself and the world that I can win races and championships, this is just a new job and a new series. I have to adapt and to grow.”
