Lance Stroll felt it was a step in the right direction for Williams Martini Racing after he put the FW41 into the second phase of Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Grove-based team are currently languishing at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship after scoring just four points in the opening eight races of the season, but Stroll gave them something to cheer about by sneaking into Q2 ahead of McLaren F1 Team’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Using three sets of the Ultrasoft tyre in Q1 meant he was compromised in the second session, although he admits that by adding more front wing to the car for he could have gone faster than he did, with the Canadian set to start fourteenth on the grid once Charles Leclerc takes his grid penalty for a gearbox change.
“I am pretty happy with getting into Q2,” said Stroll. “Looking back at it, I think there was more in it, as we only had one set of tyres because we put three sets on in Q1, which isn’t normally what our run plan is.
“But this time we just wanted to put all our effort into getting out of Q1, which put us on the back foot for Q2. I think we missed out a little bit on the balance in Q2, as with some of the track improvement I think we could have probably put some more front wing on it and that would have helped us gain some more positions.
“However, all in all I think we have to be pretty satisfied with getting into Q2 and it is a step in the right direction.”
