'The kid's good': Meet the 18-year-old Canadian racing prodigy joining Formula One
Lance Stroll's family wealth has advanced and defined career of 1st Canadian F1 driver since Villeneuve
For the first time in a decade, a Canadian is poised to take the wheel in the world's most prestigious class of auto racing, Formula One.
Montreal-born Lance Stroll has signed a deal to race with Williams in 2017, the British constructor announced Thursday at its factory in Oxfordshire, England. Williams did not disclose the duration or value of the contract.
"It's really a dream come true," said Stroll, who only turned 18 on Oct. 29. "I don't think it's quite sunk in yet."
Stroll replaces F1 veteran Felipe Massa, who announced his retirement from Williams, and joins Valtteri Bottas on the same team that once featured Jacques Villeneuve. A fellow Quebecer, Villeneuve was the last Canadian to compete in Formula One, until 2006.
Claire Williams will know how to bring the best out of him, and it's a good place to start.- Derek Warwick, former F1 driver
"He's the full package," deputy team principal Claire Williams told reporters as she presented Williams's 2017 driver lineup. She said Stroll is "so capable, extremely intelligent and puts the work in."
At the announcement, Stroll wore a white short-sleeve shirt emblazoned with his new team's name and sponsors' logos. He said he was feeling "not bad" and jokingly called it "just another regular Thursday," to laughs from the roomful of journalists.
Stroll finished the 2016 season atop the standings in the lower-tier Formula 3 European Championship, winning 14 races with the Italian-based Prema Powerteam. The result earned him a "super license," a requirement to become an F1 driver.
"The kid's good, it's as simple as that," said Derek Warwick, a former F1 driver and now the president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which has featured Stroll on its list of "rising stars." He sees promise in Stroll's personality and driving style.
"Claire Williams will know how to bring the best out of him, and it's a good place to start," Warwick said.
Fortunate family ties
Stroll's skills haven't been the only attribute driving his career.
"There are questions about whether or not some of his success has been achieved because he has money behind him," explained Joe Saward, a long-time F1 journalist who now writes for Grand Prix+. "That's not very fair necessarily, but that's the way people will look at it."
Lance Stroll's father, fashion industry tycoon Lawrence Stroll, is considered one of Canada's richest businesspeople, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $2.4 billion US.
"(Lance) doesn't have to struggle for money as most young drivers do," Saward said. "But to be fair to him as well, he's delivered the goods at each level."
"I come from money, I'm not going to deny that," Stroll said Thursday, adding that he's proven himself as a driver in F3 and now expects an uphill climb in F1. "I'm a rookie, and I'm going to have to learn a lot."
A long-held dream
Stroll's driving experience began at age five, when his father bought him a go-kart for his birthday. He raced at the circuit in Mont-Tremblant, Que., which his father had also purchased.
"We built tracks that didn't put him into the trajectory of anything dangerous," said Tom Kemp, the crew chief and instructor at the Tremblant circuit's Jim Russell Racing School. "We kept him in circles, little figure-eights. And he quickly grew out of it."
Kemp recalls Stroll setting his sights on the top tier of racing when he was only six years old. "He always had the dream to go to Formula One."
Stroll grew up regularly attending the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Kemp said, and was given Michael Schumacher's helmet in 2004 after the German won the race. Stroll considers the seven-time world champion his biggest inspiration.
Stroll was born the year after Jacques Villeneuve became the first and so far only Canadian to claim the F1 world championship in 1997, with the Williams team. He, too, had to rise out of the shadow of his father, racing legend Gilles Villeneuve.
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