Lance Stroll expressed happiness at bringing Williams’ points drought to an end in Azerbaijan, but warned the team cannot assume its pace will be carried across to upcoming rounds.
Williams endured a fraught opening trio of rounds as it languished off the pace, with Stroll placing 14th at each Grand Prix, while team-mate Sergey Sirotkin also failed to get near the points.
Williams was in the thick of the midfield around the streets of Baku as Stroll qualified in 11th position and went on to score eighth place, giving Williams its first points of the year.
“It was a crazy race, so much happened. I am pretty happy with the race, there were perhaps one or two more positions if we did everything perfectly, but no one had a perfect race.
“In that battle with Fernando [Alonso] at the end I think I should have held him there, but he surprised me into Turn 3.
“I didn't really see him coming back on the inside and he just managed to sneak through, but that was probably the only little bit we missed.
“All in all, I am happy with P8 and it was a good race for the team, but we can't assume this pace will carry on to Barcelona, we have to understand our issues and keep working but that is just what we are doing.”
Williams chief Paddy Lowe believes the squad missed out on additional points due to Sirotkin’s early exit, but nonetheless welcome Stroll’s result.
“It was very disappointing to lose Sergey at the start, but it was great to get eighth position with Lance,” he said.
“I’m happy in one way but disappointed in another, because I think there were many more points possible for us.
“Even so, it was a great drive by Lance, all weekend in fact. He kept the car in one piece which is actually one of the key things at this circuit.
“It is great to get our first points on the board this season and we need to keep this momentum going.”
