Lance Stroll believes that Williams Martini Racing have major room for improvement in their 2018 package after another testing day at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Williams languished towards the bottom of the timing screens a fortnight ago in Australia and managed no better than fourteenth over the course of the two Free Practice sessions on Friday, courtesy of Stroll.
The Canadian also suffered a spin at the exit of Turn 7 in FP1, before ending the day’s final session in seventeenth, just over two and a half seconds shy of Kimi Räikkönen‘s session best time. One consolation for Stroll is that he got the better of rookie team-mate Sergey Sirotkin in both sessions.
Stroll reflected on a “tricky day” for Williams by saying that although the car feels better in comparison to its predecessor, it’s still far from its maximum potential.
“It’s been a tricky day in terms of where we are on the time sheets,” said Stroll.
“There is a lot to improve on, that’s for sure. The car feels better than last year, but its’s still not where we want to be.”
However, the 19-year-old is confident that Williams will make improvements going into Qualifying and the race. Stroll saw his Bahrain weekend last year end in an unfortunate collision with Carlos Sainz Jr..
“Melbourne was a little bit better on Friday than the Friday we have experienced here in Bahrain, but it is another day tomorrow,” he added.
“We have a meeting tonight to discuss the car and where we can improve our pace, so hopefully we can get on top of things and come back better tomorrow.”
Stroll was critical of himself, saying that he can extract a bit more out of the car, but says that any personal improvement will not be enough on its own.
“I think we can improve in many areas, so there is a lot that can be better. I think I could make my lap a tenth or two better than where it is, but still that is not enough as we need to be looking for big gains and not just minor details.”
