Williams' teenage driver ruled out of Day Two after 12 laps when spin damaged front wing; Stroll says confidence will not be dented
Friday 17 March 2017 12:05, UK
F1 2017's youngest driver, Lance Stroll, says his confidence will not be dented by the spin which ended his testing debut early.
Williams' 18-year-old rookie made his full F1 testing bow on the second day of the Barcelona test but was on track for just 12 laps before spinning through the gravel backwards after a mistake at Turn Nine.
Although he was able to drive back to the garage, the FW30 sustained damage to its front wing and has required Williams to send parts back to the team's Grove factory to be fixed ahead of Day Three's running.
But despite being forced onto the sidelines for the rest of the test day, Stroll was not feeling downhearted.
"It's unfortunate, one front wing, a little winglet, but that's Formula 1," the Canadian told reporters.
"The car's very complex, there's not much room for error and just getting to grips with the car.
"But not a dent to the confidence. I was very happy in the car in the few laps I did."
Stroll was on the sixth lap of his second stint before spinning, an incident Williams described as "innocuous".
"It was low grip and I just lost the car," the Canadian explained. "Went through the gravel, a little spin, drove it back to the garage and apparently it broke a little winglet on the front wing. We only have one, so it ended our day.
"A little bit unfortunate but it is what it is. Things happen in testing like this at the beginning so going to get back, keep the head down and keep pushing from there."
Stroll returns to the FW40 for Thursday's final day, with veteran team-mate Felipe Massa back in the car on Wednesday. Williams' pre-season programme had begun in more encouraging fashion when the Brazilian completed over 100 laps on Day One.
