Lance Stroll was thrilled as he fulfilled his dream to stand on a Formula 1 podium, following his brilliant drive and finishing third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Last year’s European F3 champion has been under huge pressure since stepping up with Williams at the start of the season with many believing he was only awarded the seat thanks to the strong financial backing of his father Lawrence.
However, two weeks ago, the 18-year-old was able to grab his first points in F1 at his home race in Montreal and the momentum kept rising with the youngster out-qualifying veteran team-mate Felipe Massa for the first time in Baku.
But the big surprise came when the Canadian emerged from the chaos and claimed his first ever podium in third.
“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 was under huge pressure in the final 10 laps with a flying Bottas closing the gap to the rookie as well as the recovering Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
Unfortunately, the strength of the slipstream and DRS on the final lap allowed Bottas to beat the Canadian into P2 by a tenth of a second, however, he can be hugely satisfied with his outstanding form that also awarded Williams their first podium of the season.
“It was a bit disappointing at the end to lose P2 but all in all an amazing race. I started to feel the rear going away so I knew it was going to be tricky to keep the pace,” he admitted
“It’s tricky with the tyres to get good lap times and save them, there was a bit of everything going on.
“Valtteri was a bit quicker than me, but I’m over the moon with P3.”