While most of the focus was on the Hamilton/Vettel incident, Williams's rookie Lance Stroll was doing his own thing at the front of the field where up until the final 100 metres, he was running in a hard fought second place. Then, unfortunately, the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas snatched the place away right at the line.
However, third place and a visit to the podium was still a brilliant result for the Canadian rookie. In fact, it was the first time a Canadian F1 driver has been on the podium in any form in 16 years. He is also the youngest river at just 18 to take a podium finish and the first to give Williams a podium since Canada 2016.
By lap 34 of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Lance was up to P2 after Sebastian Vettel was handed a 10-second penalty
From there he maintained position right until the very last second of the race, when Bottas, with the help of DRS, was able to beat Lance across the line by a tenth of a second.
Then after the race, he was treated to Daniel Ricciardo's ‘shoey' on the rostrum!
“I'm just lost for words right now. It was such a hectic race and so much happened, but the team kept me cool on the radio, the pace was good, we took it to the end and stayed out of trouble,” he explained. “I can't quite believe what's just happened.”
“We just lost out to Valtteri at the end there in one of the closest finishes of all time going side-by-side across the finish line. Coming into this weekend I never thought I would be standing on the podium. It's an amazing feeling and, for me, a dream come true.”
“However, what happened today was a team effort and I can't thank everyone enough for making this happen. I am just so sorry that I could not celebrate with Felipe, as that would have been the icing on the cake. I am sure without his problems he would have been up there with me.”
