Lance Stroll made it through to the top ten shootout for the first time in his Formula 1 career, which the teenage Canadian admitting it was his target ahead of the weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The Williams Martini Racing driver was disappointed with his first lap in the first phase of the session but revealed that he calmed down ahead of his second run, which as a result saw an improvement, while he was also happy with his performance in Q2 that saw him advance.
Stroll had just one set of tyres available to him for Q3 but it was a scruffy effort, but overall he was happy with his performance and his subsequent starting position.
“The first run in Q1 wasn’t good. I was just getting into it and didn’t deliver the lap I knew I could deliver,” said Stroll. “On the second set of tyres, I just kind of calmed down and it was an amazing lap; I was really happy with the car.
“Then moving on to Q2, we had a good session. To get into Q3 the time was a tenth slower than my Q1 lap, but I knew it was good enough. Since I had used two sets in Q1, I only had one for Q3, so I just went for it. It wasn’t a good lap, but my goal was to get into Q3.
“Tomorrow there is a long race ahead of us, so even though Q3 wasn’t as good as I think it could have been I am still very happy with the overall qualifying.”
