Who is Lance Stroll?
ESPNF1:
Canadian prodigy Lance Stroll -- who will make his F1 debut with Williams in 2017 -- is blessed with the golden combination of talent and money.
Stroll's billionaire father Lawrence has helped fund his preparation for F1, paying for numerous private tests this year with old cars on current circuits. But Stroll backs up his family's wealth with talent and results on track -- the youngster's career so far shows his enormous potential.
His elevation comes after successfully winning the European Formula 3 championship -- the series Max Verstappen finished third in before his rookie F1 season -- in dominant fashion. After finishing fifth in that series last year, the title gives him the superlicence points needed for an F1 drive. Previously, he won the Italian Formula 4 Championship in 2014.
He was signed to a Ferrari development deal at the age of 11 after dominating the North American karting ranks. He switched to development role at Williams last year, with the team likely to offer him a faster route to F1 -- a decision vindicated by his elevation to a full-time drive next year.
When he debuts, Stroll will become the second-youngest driver to appear in an F1 race, behind Verstappen. His first season will provide the daunting challenge of getting to grips with the 2017 cars, which will be wider, more aggressive-looking and more of a physical challenge for the drivers, though may also act as something of a leveller as the rest of the grid adapts.
His father -- worth an estimated $2.4 billion according to Forbes -- is a collector of vintage Ferraris and investor in numerous fashion lines, including Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. He is part-owner of the Prema team Lance drove to the European F3 title with this year. Though plans were originally for Lance to step up to GP2 with Prema next year, the family and Williams decided an immediate elevation to F1 was the better option.
Stroll joins a Williams team responsible for starting the F1 careers of 2009 world champion Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg, who is on the verge of winning this year's title. Williams was also where Jacques Villeneuve, the last Canadian on the F1 grid, won the championship in 1997. That remains Williams' last championship victory.
Ah, I will miss FM's cute bum, but hey: here's fresh meat!
