Williams team principal, Claire Williams has defended rookie driver Lance Stroll against recent comments by 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
The outspoken Canadian has been particularly critical of his 18-year-old countryman, branding his first season as “pathetic” and slamming a private test between the Montreal and Baku races as an abuse of their financial abilities
However, Williams is adamant the current European Formula 3 champion’s work ethic and a recent upturn in performance has backed up the team’s decision to put trust in Stroll to deliver the required results.
“The way that Lance describes it, he just wants to get on and let his track performance do the talking. I think that’s what we should do because that’s when the critics will stop. When Lance proves he deserves to be in F1, which we all at Williams believe anyway.
“You may have only just seen the results on the race track but if you could see the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes over the course of the year, it’s been really impressive. This is a big step-up from the junior formula. I think people can underestimate that step at times,” the daughter of team founder Sir Frank Williams added.
“He’s delivered against everything we expected of him and I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll move forward for the rest of the year. It’s great to now have two cars that are scoring points for us in the Constructors’ Championship.”
“I was the youngest ever driver to win the F3 championship, with a massive margin over the runner-up. These are the facts.
“Yes, it is easy to judge from only what you see from the outside, but the people who are really close to me and who are important to me never doubted what I am capable of doing – and we have shown the rest!”
He also played down any significant confidence or mental boost after his first points result in Canada claiming: “Not so much. If it comes earlier or later… you almost cannot influence it.
