Williams has confirmed both halves of their 2017 driver lineup. As expected, Valtteri Bottas has maintained his seat with the team, entering his fifth consecutive season with the team. On the other side of the garage, Lance Stroll will be making his Formula One debut as Canada’s first full-time driver since Jacques Villeneuve.
Bottas has been with Williams for eight long years, first joining the team as a test driver in 2010. In 2013, he was given the opportunity to drive the Williams F1 car in races, as he would replace Bruno Senna. After his first season driving for the team, Bottas was partnered with Felipe Massa and has been for the past three years.
As we all know, long time Formula One driver Felipe Massa has called it quits at the end of the season, as he officially makes the decision to retire from the sport of which he has been a part of for 14 seasons.
To serve as his replacement, Williams has given Canada’s Lance Stroll a chance to make his Formula One debut. The son on billionaire Lawrence Stroll, Lance began his career karting in 2008. In 2014, he moved to the Italian Formula 4 Championship, where he won the championship title. He was able to earn the title in the Toyota Racing Series the following year, while also advancing to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and earning a position on Ferrari’s Formula One team as a development driver. Having finished his debut Formula 3 season in fifth position, Stroll was able to win the title this year after having won nearly half of the races in the season.
Lance Stroll was happy and thankful for the position that he has found himself in for 2017, but also knows that it will not be all easy in Formula One:
“To be racing in Formula One in 2017 is incredible, I can’t thank Williams enough for showing faith in my ability. Racing in F1 was something I dreamt about as a young kid. When I began karting seriously, F1 was then the ultimate goal and especially when I started racing cars in 2014.
2017 is going to be a big learning curve for me, but I’m eager to absorb everything Williams can share with me so that I improve. I’ll be taking things on a race-by-race, lap-by-lap basis and hopefully progress with experience like I did when I entered Formula 4 and then Formula 3.
I believe contesting the FIA European Formula 3 Championship for the past two years has prepared me well for the step up. There are many elements for me to learn and I’m still young. I’ve been experiencing a 2014-spec Williams FW36 since August, which has gone very well. The power is incredible. I’m learning about the car, the incredible downforce, DRS and tyre management, finding a rhythm and finding the limit. I’m becoming more comfortable and confident with each run.”
Stroll will join the short list of long term Canadian Formula One drivers in the history books. He joined George Eaton, Gilles Villieneuve, Jacques Villeneuve and Allen Berg. Jacques Villeneuve was the last Canadian driver to have entered in the sport of Formula One, having retired from the sport at the end of the 2006 season.
With Williams’ lineup now confirmed, the following racing seats remain unconfirmed for 2017: one at Renault, one at Force India, one at Haas, two at Manor and two at Sauber.
