Williams Martini Racing rookie Lance Stroll had a positive morning of running in the FW40 at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona on Thursday, as the Grove based team chose to split the day’s programme between their drivers.
Staying predominantly on the medium tyre, the Canadian worked on getting used to the feel of the car, which is an all-new machine for the 18-year-old this season.
Stroll completed a solid 85 laps in the first half of the day, with a best time of 1:24.863 before teammate Felipe Massa took over, the squad’s focus never on setting fastest laps at any point of the morning.
The 18-year-old still has much to learn ahead of round one in Australia, but he is making steady progress, and his session remained incident free, which is the main thing after crashing the FW40 twice during the first week, which saw the team have to pull out of day fours running completely.
“It was a good morning. I was doing long runs on medium tyres and getting used to the car on them, which is good. We did a lot of laps.
“I am still getting to know the car a bit better, so it was a positive morning. I will be in the car all day tomorrow.
The Canadian will be in the car for the final day of testing on Friday, so he can get as much time behind the wheel before competing in his first ever F1 race in just over two weeks’ time. Stroll is happy with his progress so far, and looking forward to getting the new season started.
“I still have the ultra-soft to try, but I am getting to grips with things so I am happy with that.”
