Stroll "really satisfied" with "unexpected" Q2 appearance in Japan

Williams driver Lance Stroll was delighted with his qualifying performance in Japan, as the Canadian teenager made it out of Q1 at Suzuka, which exceeded his own expectations.

It's been a very tough year for Williams, as the Grove-based team currently man the last place in the constructors' championship. Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, the two Williams drivers (and the youngest line-up on the grid) have been struggling to score any points, with the Russian especially finding it hard to harvest any points on Sundays.

He got the first point of his career at Monza, but that was only because Romain Grosjean was disqualified from the race after the fact for an illegal floor.

As for Stroll, who qualified in P14 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, he was happy with his outing on Saturday.

"I am still very happy and really satisfied to get through and into [Q2], as we didn't expect that today," he told F1i.

"The car felt like it was working beneath me and I knew it was going to be a big step from my first run to my second run.

"I tidied up my mistakes from that first run in Q1, and then it was a combination of everything.

"I had a good engineer to set-up the car well, used every bit of the road, committed to every corner, the lap was pretty good, and the car felt alive beneath me.

"All those key points came together."

In Q2, the Canadian was the slowest man on the track, only leaving Ricciardo behind him because the Aussie had a failing engine. That was a pity, Stroll explained.

"The rain came at the wrong moment in Q2.

"Ricciardo is going to fly through the field, and I am not going to spend too much time trying to keep him behind!

"I am going to do my race and hopefully we can pick up some positions at the start and go from there."