Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe has called for comparisons between Lance Stroll and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to end after the 18-year old scored his first podium in Baku.
Stroll has found form in the previous two races, scoring his first points in Canada and then outperforming team-mate Felipe Massa in Azerbaijan, this was after a private test at the Circuit of the Americas helped him regain some confidence.
Verstappen took a very short time to establish himself in Formula 1 nearly scoring points on his debut for Toro Rosso, then last season won his first race on his promotion to the senior team at Red Bull.
“I hope we can put all that behind us,” Lowe told Motorsport.com. “Lance doesn’t need to look outside for any references, he only needs to look at himself and to be very happy with what he finds.
“It’s a real breakthrough. Every single session, he has been completely in control, driving with good pace, with good margin as well. I don’t know if you remember back to Friday [practice], I think there were only three drivers that didn’t throw a yellow and he was one of them.
“For a rookie, that’s pretty impressive given he was also doing reasonable pace. I remember after Canada feeling this could be a real turning point.”
Lowe also was pleased to see the composure the teenager showed as the race in Baku drew to a close, while still trying to keep up with Daniel Ricciardo, Stroll was being hunted down at a rapid pace by Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, who eventually beat the Canadian in a drag race to the line to snatch second place.
“These are the moments when you have to dig deep and not make mistakes,” he added. “He described those last 10 laps as all qualifying laps.
“He didn’t slip up, every single lap time was on the nail and at a very respectable pace. I believe that is the pace of the car and that’s the place you want to be with your drivers.”
