Lance Stroll met with the media last night outside Williams hospitality to talk through how the second week of testing has been for him so far. He was keen to focus on the positives, and put last week’s incidents behind him saying “What’s news is what is happening now”.
Read what he had to say below:
On the second week of testing:
“So far, so good. Happy with the morning, happy with yesterday, so I think it’s been a positive week so far.”
On being a rookie with the new 2017 regulations:
“It’s challenging. I think it’s maybe a bit more for me as it’s my rookie year with not much experience, but it’s new for everyone, so a lot of grip. I think precision is very important since the car is a lot quicker, but it’s good. It’s a good challenge physically, and just driving the car is harder, so that’s cool.”
On last week’s test – has Lance read the critical comments?
“That was last week. So, that’s last week! What’s news is what is happening now. The present. So I’m looking at the positive week that we are having so far. Last week is last week, and I don’t really read much of the negative stuff, I focus on my own things.”
On what he can learn from working with Felipe Massa:
“I think a lot, he brings a lot to the team. A lot of knowledge, and he’s been through a lot of regulation changes in his career, so he can really help the team move forward, and he’s a good benchmark for me and a guy I can learn a lot from. So yeah it’s just positive in many ways. He’s a nice guy, a straightforward guy, he’s still hungry to achieve good results for the team, and that’s all positive stuff, so I think it’s great to have him.”
On personal targets for 2017:
“That depends on a lot of things, like where the car is, a lot of things need to fall into place, but I’m just focussed on taking it race by race. I’m going to do the best I can, every race, all the time, and we’ll see what happens.”
On plans for the last day of testing – fast, qualifying laps?
“I don’t know exactly what we are doing yet tomorrow – I have to confirm with the team what their plan is, but sure, it would be good. I still haven’t tried the Ultrasoft, so that is another compound remaining that I can learn from, so I think it would be good to get some quali-type runs under my belt and get a feel for the car with max grip, but yeah, we’ll see what we are doing, and I’m going to do whatever the team tells me to do.”
On his Melbourne debut – is he ready?
“I feel really excited for Melbourne, it’s going to be really cool to go to Melbourne as a driver, so really looking forward to it. Obviously still one more day of testing to go, and I think it will be quite a big day for me tomorrow. There’s also still a lot I can learn, but Melbourne’s going to be new to me, it’s going to be a track I’ve never been to so I’ll kind of have to start again from, I wouldn’t say zero, but I’ll have to build up to it. But I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I feel ready, physically ready.”
