Stroll upturn helped by Austin two thousand fourteen car test
Stroll qualified eighth for Sunday’s Baku F1 race, outqualifying Williams teammate Felipe Massa for the very first time and making Q3 for only the 2nd time in eight attempts.
Massa said Stroll’s maiden points finish had calmed him down and “some switches to the car, similar to the one [set-up] I use” had made Stroll more competitive on his very first visit to Baku.
Technical chief Paddy Lowe explained that an special day of testing in the FW36 at Austin on June fourteen permitted Stroll to examine the differences inbetween his and Massa’s set-ups and find a better direction.
“He went to Austin last week driving the two thousand fourteen car,” Lowe said. “They did a few experiments with set-up, looking at some of the differences inbetween his set-up and Felipe’s set-up, and some of that’s been brought forward here and I think it’s put him in a much better place.”
Lowe explained these experiments were focused on “generic things that are common to most racing cars”, which meant they could translate lightly to the two thousand seventeen Williams.
Stroll engaged in a dedicated two thousand fourteen Williams test programme during his European Formula three championship campaign last season in order to prepare for F1 this year. This programme is continuing with Stroll scheduled to do an off the hook day of testing in the 2014-spec car inbetween every race, at tracks he hasn’t visited, until the end of the season.
Lowe said Stroll’s familiarity with the car combined with the extra track time helped accelerate his learning process inbetween races.
“It’s just track time,” Lowe added. “They had a entire day to do some straightforward experiments with stable tyres, good sets of tyres, run a programme. And they’re fairly generic set-up directions that apply identically on a two thousand fourteen car as on a two thousand seventeen car.
“The trouble on a Friday [at a grand prix] is you’ve got limited time, limited numbers of tyres, they’re often not the same type of tyre, then the track’s moving fairly quickly as well. It’s a excellent advantage to be able to go and spend a entire day on something.”
Stroll: Set-up had “drifted away”
Stroll struggled badly in qualifying in latest races, pulling down out in Q1 in Spain, Monaco and Canada in a car that usually contends for Q3.
He reckoned taking a set-up direction “similar to the beginning of the year”, combined with better communication with his engineers and understanding of the Pirelli tyres, came together to boost his form in Azerbaijan.
“I’m embarking to figure it out with the car, taking directions similar to the beginning of the year,” Stroll said. “We drifted away from that direction, we came back, and I feel a lot more certain with that balance and set-up.
“The set-up gives you confidence and then you can drive the car the way you want.
“I think it’s a combination of everyone working together, the engineers providing me different information, better information, and just gaining practice with the tyres.”