Canadian Grand Prix boss Francois Dumontier has accused Formula 1 fans of having a “short fuse” in assessing Lance Stroll.
The 21-year-old will start his fourth season in 2020 but has struggled to show much progression since debuting with Williams back in 2017.
As a result, the perception of the youngster from Montreal being little more than a pay driver who is only in F1 because of his father continues to stick.
“People are impatient. They have a short fuse with Lance,” Dumontier told Canada’s La Presse.
“It shouldn’t be forgotten that when his father’s group took over Force India, which was in administration, it had easily been a year since there was any development in the team at all.
“They have some catching up to do, but I think it will come,” he concluded.
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The issue is Stroll was comprehensively out-performed by teammate Sergio Perez last year, particularly in qualifying with Lance failing to make it out of Q1 until the German GP in July and was outscored by the Mexican 52-21 across the season.
“It’s simple. He had a good second half of the season and I didn’t,” Stroll said in the interview.
“It’s always good to have someone who serves as a reference for the car, but in the end, it’s up to you to tune the car and adapt your driving style to maximize your results.
“It’s good to be able to count on a teammate as experienced as him – it allows me to see and understand how I can improve.”
And with another year of learning under his belt plus the stability of staying at Racing Point, he is confident of a much better season ahead.
“The fact that I can go again with the same team for a second consecutive season and with more experience, is simple mathematics. It will be a big benefit,” he claimed.
“It was the same at Williams, even if you couldn’t see the progress because of the poor quality of the 2018 car, but I had the impression that I understood more what I had to do with the car.
“In that sense, I think it will be similar next season with this car. We also now have the luxury of time to prepare, which we didn’t have last winter because of all the changes happening in the team.”
