Stroll claims historic F1 finish

Canadian Lance Stroll wrote himself into the F1 history books on Sunday after his third-place finish in Baku saw him become the youngest ever driver to claim a podium finish.

An incident and action-packed race which featured three safety cars and several crashes between many drivers, was won by Daniel Ricciardo, with Valtteri Bottas, who was last and lapped after the first lap, finishing ahead of Stroll, whom he passed in the final straight of the race.

The third place finish for the 18-year-old, came after he recorded a ninth place finish at the last race in Canada. He said: “I’m lost for words right now, I don’t know what to say, I can’t quite realise what’s happened. It was a hectic race, people crashing, we just stayed out of trouble, I kept my head cool and took it to the end.

“Our pace was good, I just lost out to Valtteri at at the end – I think that was one of the closest finishes of all time! We were side by side at as we crossed the line, but what a race! I couldn’t believe coming into the weekend, believing I’d be standing on the podium – it’s so amazing!

Voted as the driver of the day, he added: “We’ve had a couple of hard races, but the last two have been amazing and I’m over the moon right now.”

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.