Lance Stroll described his first experience in a Formula One car as a “tremendous” step compared to his previous Formula 3 machine, but the new Williams driver is confident the latter has prepared him well for his grand prix racing graduation.
Stroll was confirmed at the Grove-based outfit for 2017 in the wake of his dominant title-winning season in the European F3 championship.
Over the past few months, the Canadian has been gaining experience at the wheel of a 2014-specification FW36 during private test sessions held around the world.
“The step was incredible, tremendous, a lot of power as expected, a lot more downforce,” Stroll told Sky Sports when asked about his first outing in an F1 car.
“But Formula 3 is a really good car that teaches you how to drive properly. It has a lot of downforce, not so much power but I think that’s why it’s a very complicated part of driving because you have to find that edge and you can’t really go over it and you can’t be under it.”
“It’s a great car and it teaches you really well how to progress on to higher categories.”
Stroll’s busy schedule ahead of his F1 debut means he has already been labelled as the best prepared rookie in recent years but the 18-year-old is keen to shed the tag.
“I would not say [I’m the best prepared rookie] ever because when they did have the testing days it was a lot easier to learn. Everyone does it differently and is preparing their own way. I don’t want to really compare.”
Looking back at his promotion to replace the retiring Felipe Massa, he added: “The conversation started when I finished my year in F3 but I still had a job to do, which was to win the championship. I tried to avoid all the distractions, avoid all the talks and just concentrate on winning F3.
“When that was done, we made the deal for 2017. It did not sink in right away, it took a bit of time. But I’m now preparing as well as possible and I will be throughout the winter to arrive in Melbourne as prepared as possible.”
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