Lance Stroll says he can be satisfied with his own development across the opening half of the 2018 Formula 1 season, in spite of Williams’ struggles at the rear of the grid.
Stroll scored 40 points, including a podium finish, during his rookie campaign with Williams in 2017, as the team found itself in the throng of the midfield fight.
But Williams has regressed this year as the new design philosophy it undertook for its FW41 backfired, with Stroll scoring its only points courtesy of eighth in Azerbaijan.
Stroll, though, reckons he can be upbeat over his gains, believing they have been masked by the deficiencies of Williams’ package.
“There have been some ups and downs but generally I’ve been happy in many ways with my first part of the season,” he said.
“As a team, we’re not where we want to be, scoring points. We’ve had our struggles.
“But I still think I’ve had some good races, I scored points in Baku, I’ve had some other good races, finishing just outside the points. I have had some strong qualifying sessions.
“All in all, I know it’s been frustrating for the team, but from my side, I do believe looking back at last year, over the winter, I have developed as a driver, and this year, a better driver all round.
“The results aren’t showing that because of the struggles we’ve been having. From my side, in many ways it has been positive.
“I’m going to keep chipping away at it and try and bring more to the table in the second half of the season.”
Stroll holds 18th place in the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of only Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Williams team-mate Sergey Sirotkin, the sole driver yet to score in 2018.
