Racing Point Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has said Lance Stroll is already at the same level as predecessor Esteban Ocon.
The young Canadian ran in the VJM11 during the post-race Abu Dhabi tyre test, completing 178 laps for the team and finished fourth out of 19 drivers in the combined leaderboard over the two days.
It was subsequently announced that Stroll will race for the Racing Point team in 2019 alongside F1 stalwart Sergio Perez at the Silverstone-based outfit.
Stroll's father, Lawrence, led a consortium to buy the team after it had fallen into administration during the summer break.
The team, down as Racing Point on the FIA's 2019 entry list, is in the process of lodging a long-term identity, having competed from 2008 to 2018 as Force India.
In the 'Beyond the grid' F1 podcast, Szafnauer spoke highly of Stroll after running the 20-year old in the Abu Dhabi tyre test, stating Stroll was up to Ocon's pace very quickly.
"Lance absolutely loved his time in the car, said the car can do the things he wants a car to do which is good, we were duly impressed with Lance," said Szafnauer.
"We were already impressed with him when he ran in the simulator. He was on the pace very quickly, up to Esteban's [Ocon] level in the simulator.
"We were just hoping the pace that he showed in the simulator would translate onto the race track and it did. He was very quick on track too.
"So we've got some good potential there in Lance, we'll work with him to hopefully teach him some things we know about how to drive the tyre, how to preserve it and how to make it go quick and last over the stints and we'll do that with him, help him qualify better too.
"But he brings some great skills, he's quick, he usually does a great job at the start and over the first lap, he usually makes up places, so we look forward to working with him."
