Stroll claims first top-10 F1 finish

Lance Stroll became the second youngest points scorer in F1 history on Sunday when he finished the Canadian Grand Prix in ninth place.

The 18-year-old, enjoying his first season with Williams, has had an indifferent start to the season, though saved his best – to date – for his home supporters.

He said: “It’s ​special, it feels so good in so many ways, you know words can’t really describe it. All I can say is it’s been a tricky beginning of the season. We’ve known we’re capable of doing it, there’s just been so much stuff in the way to get points, you know, contact, technical issues”.

Starting the race in 17th place, he also held off off Fernando Alonso on his way to his ninth-place finish. “It’s special to be able to overtake and fight, and it’s not every race you get that – sometimes it’s just boring and you finish where you start,” he said. “But today wasn’t like that, it was fun even though it was stressful with Alonso never giving up behind me. Every time I did a better lap he did an even better lap, and it just never ended.”

The son of billionaire Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll and Belgian fashion designer Claire-Anne Callens, he began his karting career when he was eight years old, and has gone on to win the 2014 Italian Formula 4 Championship, 2015 Toyota Racing Series and 2016 European Formula 3 titles.