Stroll hits back at Williams

Lance Stroll has hit back after his former boss, Williams technical director Paddy Lowe, accused him recently of arriving in F1 "too early". Stroll, now 20, spent his first two seasons in F1 at Williams, and scored a podium in his rookie campaign, but 2018 was a miserable year for both team and driver.

Last year, the once-great British team finished dead last overall, and Lowe said Stroll had "arrived in F1 too early".

When asked about Lowe's comments, Stroll - who has switched to Racing Point for 2019 – pointed out that the deficiencies did not necessarily lie at his door.

"All I can say is that the car was badly born last year and the engineers did not know how to develop it during the season," the Canadian told Le Journal de Montreal.

"When I took part in a test session two days after the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, I was 1.4 seconds faster in a car I had never driven," Stroll added.

"I think the times did the talking in Abu Dhabi. But it's a thing of the past," Stroll insisted. "I'm starting a new chapter in my career."

Indeed, prior to the Racing Point rebranding, Force India was a top midfield contender in 2018 and Stroll says the team will do "great things" this year.

"We have an outstanding organisation, which we have proved in recent years with limited resources," he said.

"We don't want to be at the back of the pack, which happened too often last year," Stroll added, referring to Williams in 2018.

"Podiums are achievable. Our new team has the means to beat many teams in F1."

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