Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer predicts Lance Stroll will change the perception of fans after a solid first race in Australia.
The young Canadian has always been dubbed as a ‘pay driver’ since joining Williams in 2017 because of his father’s backing and that got worse after Lawrence Stroll bought the Force India team last summer.
However, on Sunday, he offered a glimpse of his potential, moving from 16th on the grid to P9, and that didn’t surprise his new boss.
“Our expectation was that he was good,” Szafnauer told RaceFans. “I think qualifying was unfortunate,” he added. “He was up on Sergio [Perez] in qualifying until he hit Grosjean so he would’ve made Q3.
“But today [in the race] for me when he was in clear air – because he was running the opposite strategy – he put some great lap times in.
“And then when he came under pressure, from Kvyat especially and then Kvyat and Gasly, he didn’t put a foot wrong. So a good drive.”
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Stroll has had his moments during his first two years in F1, notably P3 in Baku and P4 in a wet qualifying at Monza in 2017, but also his junior career, dominating the European F3 championship in 2016.
“You don’t win all those championships coming through the junior formulae if you can’t drive a car. He’s won everything,” the Racing Point boss noted.
“Over time that [the negative perception] will change and he’ll get some credit.”
Speaking about his performance on Sunday, the 20-year-old said: “I am really pleased with my race today – it has been a great day at the office.
“It’s really nice to pick up some points on the first weekend of the season, but it wasn’t easy.
“It was a really challenging afternoon, chasing Hulkenberg and Raikkonen ahead of me while also keeping Kvyat and Gasly behind me for most of the race.
“I was under a lot of pressure and it was very tight, but I am glad we managed to pick up two points.”
