'Lance has a great head on his shoulders' says dad Lawrence

Lawrence Stroll has been talking about how proud he is of his son Lance, and how well the teenager has taken to racing in Formula 1.

"He has a great head on his shoulders, especially for a 19-year-old kid," said the billionaire businessman this week. “I’m most proud of how wonderful, humble, mature he is.

"A lot of these guys here in the paddock, their heads are quite swollen and very different. Lance doesn’t have any of that in him. That’s not in his DNA."

Having won the European F3 title in 2016, Lance Stroll made his Formula 1 debut last year in the Australian Grand Prix. Currently in his second season with Williams, he's expected to move to Force India over the winter.

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That's in part because of the leading role that his 59-year-old father played in saving the team from administration during the summer.

Stroll senior - who is understood to have a net worth of around $2.7 billion from investments in designer fashion brands, according to Forbes magazine - led a consortium investing an estimated $110 million to help save the team from going out of business.

He explained that the rescue bid was less to do with helping his son's future career prospects in F1, and that it was instead more down of his life-long love of motorsport.

“I just think I’m a guy like any other guy," he said. "Most guys love cars. I fell in love with them at a very early age. I had posters on my wall growing up of my favourite cars."

It was a love that he readily admitted he had passed on to his son.

“He used to accompany me [to races] as a young boy - four, five, six years old. We had an extremely close relationship then and we still do now. I guess that’s where he caught the bug.

“Then he started go-karting not far from here in Saint-Hilaire as a hobby, like kids play baseball or football or hockey.

"He took to it and had a passion for it. Obviously, a lot of talent, too. He won almost everything there was to win and he just really enjoyed driving."

Force India is yet to announced who will drive for them next year, but Lance Stoll is expected to be paired with Sergio Perez in 2019.

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