Lance Stroll’s arrival at Force India has been met with mixed reception given his father's involvement in the Racing Point takeover, but team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the former Williams driver has the speed to deserve his position.
The Canadian has proved his talent to Szafnauer by performing well on both the track and simulator in post-season testing in Abu Dhabi.
Stroll replaced the also highly regarded Esteban Ocon who has become Mercedes’ reserve driver.
“Lance absolutely loved his time in the car,” Szafnauer told the official F1 podcast Beyond The Grid, presented by Bose.
“We were already impressed with him when he ran in the simulator.
"He was on the pace very quickly, up to Esteban’s level, in the simulator, and we were just hoping that the pace that he showed in the simulator would translate onto the track – and it did, he was very quick on track too.”
The Romanian also revealed that he believed Ocon’s links to Mercedes’ junior programme hindered his chances of signing for another team for the 2019 season.
“Esteban had opportunities this year, but they weren’t forthcoming, I think, due to his management structure,” said Szafnauer before revealing he was referring to his Mercedes links: “I think so, yeah, maybe. Maybe after the Renault thing he had some opportunities that maybe didn’t come to fruition because of it.”