Lance Stroll and the WIlliams team were delighted with their race weekend in Monza.
The 18-year-old Quebecker first became the youngest driver to launch a Formula 1 Grand Prix of the front row with his second place acquired in the rain during qualifying Saturday at the Italian Grand Prix.
“Starting the race from the first line at the Monza circuit is definitely the most memorable one I will keep this weekend,” said Stroll.
Mont-Tremblant led his Williams to seventh place – just ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa – the second best result of his career after his third place finish in Azerbaijan.
“It’s really a good race. I had a good start, but Hamilton blocked me and I had to release. Afterwards, Esteban Ocon surpassed me in the first corner because I was behind Lewis, who did not have a good start. I had a good pace and I attacked Ocon all the way, but at one point I had to lock the wheels, which damaged one of my tires. I had to handle that for the rest of the race. It caused a lot of vibration. A seventh place is therefore very satisfactory. ”
“Our two drivers had a good start, but unfortunately for Lance, he quickly lost a position at Ocon and it was pretty good at the time,” Williams technical director Paddy Lowe said. I think we had a bit more speed than the Force India [Sunday]. We could have traveled back to Ocon, but we had a little problem during the Lance pit stop, which is rather unusual. Lance pushed the car back to the track, but he was not able to join Ocon. ”
This seventh Stroll allows it to rise to 12 th rank in the drivers’ standings with 24 points, seven less than Massa, 11 th .
“These 10 points raised by Lance and Felipe, we needed so much at this point in the championship,” Lowe added.