Lance Stroll isn't making things easy for himself with his qualifying positions, but the SportPesa Racing Point driver soon makes up for it with his race pace on Sundays. His experienced teammate Sergio Perez dishes out the praise.
Stroll has only progressed into Q2 once this season but finds himself sitting 12th in the Formula 1 world championship, higher than Nico Hulkenberg, one place from Daniel Ricciardo and just six points from Lando Norris.
Most of that was aided by a fourth-place finish at the German Grand Prix. But that can't be ignored after a well-controlled drive in wet conditions which caught out both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. His teammate had to watch on the sidelines after crashing out himself and Perez admits he's surprised.
“I think since he came I’ve been surprised with his race rhythm, that’s something that caught me out. I seemed to have a bit more of an advantage historically to my previous team-mates, especially on race pace, and with Lance, the first time, he was up there," Perez told Racer.
“I think his race pace is quite good. He’s improving. I think the driver he is today to where he was when he arrived, he has improved massively, so there is a lot to come from him. I think he has performed quite well. He is a racer, like me, on Sundays, so he’s done a pretty good job considering the car we’ve had all the way to now.”
The two SportPesa Racing Point drivers were given virtually a new car for the German Grand Prix and received further updates in Hungary. While McLaren is perhaps too far in the distance, a fifth-place finish isn't out of the question for the Pink Panthers.