Claire Williams says she is "really excited" to see how Lance Stroll performs for Williams after he "annihilated the F3 championship" in 2016.
18-year-old Stroll was finally confirmed as Felipe Massa's replacement on Thursday morning, with the Canadian set to partner Valtteri Bottas next season. Ahead of his debut Formula One year, deputy team principal Williams says Stroll's performance in winning this year's F3 title leaves her full of anticipation to see how he performs in F1.
"With Lance, he has proven his credentials, he deserves this seat in F1 next year," Williams said. "As a team we are notorious for bringing in young talent to F1 and I am really excited to see what Lance can do for the team.
"This year alone he has annihilated the F3 championship, he has won 14 of the 30 races, so nearly 50% of races he has won. Prior to that he was champion in the Toyota race series in New Zealand and the F4 championship as well. He truly deserves this seat and I am really excited to see what he can do next year."
And Williams says Stroll was the obvious candidate to replace Massa, despite his lack of experience heading into a season with new regulations.
"That was inevitably going to be something that was crucial for us going into the regulation change next year. Felipe has done a wonderful job for this team but it was his choice to retire, so when we knew that we had to bring in a second driver and we evaluated our options and Lance was the clear choice to make."
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