Lance Stroll has put down his middling pace during Friday’s Austrian Grand Prix free practice down to a lack of grip in his Williams, with 15th and 16th fastest in each session respectively marking a backwards step in performance from Azerbaijan two weeks ago.
The Canadian rookie scored his first career podium in Baku, however the strong overall pace seen by Williams that weekend was not in evidence during Friday practice. With a closely packed midfield, Stroll struggled to make an impact on the timesheets, and said changes were needed for Saturday’s final free practice to improve.
“The field is very tight,” he said. “We are missing a bit so there are bits and pieces to work on overnight. We don’t look as competitive as we were in Baku, for example, but that can change. It is such a short lap round here and a couple of tenths can get you quite a few places.”
Stroll pinpointed the grip levels of his Williams as the main issue, which was affecting his ability to extract the maximum potential pace from what has proven to be one of the quicker midfield cars this year.
“We are going to work to try and solve it for tomorrow, as we are lacking a bit of grip everywhere and are just not able to push the car as hard at some of the others.”
