Canadian 18-year-old Stroll to be F1’s youngster driver on grid in 2017

MONTREAL – He doesn’t yet have his regular road driver’s licence, but 18-year-old Quebecer Lance Stroll was named Thursday to the Williams lineup for the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Stroll will be the youngest driver in F1 racing next year and the first Canadian on the grid since 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve left F1 a decade ago.

He will replace the retiring Felipe Massa to team up with Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas.

Stroll dominated this year’s Formula Three championship, winning the series by more than 100 points.

“I want to look at it like I’m starting from zero again,” Stroll told reporters during a news conference in England. “What happened this year happened this year.”

“I’m going to have to learn a lot of new things for next season,” he added. “I’m a rookie; I’m going to make mistakes, going to learn in many areas and I’m looking forward to that.”

Stroll, who becomes the sport’s youngest driver since Max Verstappen made his debut last year at 17, said he would like to get his regular road permit before the first race of the season.

Claire Williams, deputy team principal of Williams Formula One racing team, told reporters Stroll “is the full package for us.”

“When we’re looking at choosing a race driver, he has everything,” she said. “He has the talent in the cockpit, he’s intelligent, he gives great feedback to the engineers.”

Francois Dumontier, promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix, said there are three key moments in Canadian auto racing: 1978 when Gilles Villeneuve entered F1 competition; the arrival of his son Jacques in 1996; and Stroll’s debut in 2017.

“It’s also interesting to note that it was the Williams team that gave Jacques Villeneuve his first shot at F1 and for whom he won the championship,” Dumontier said in a statement.

Dumontier added Williams has a special relationship with Montreal. Alan Jones won the Canadian Grand Prix there in 1980 to give the team its first constructors title.

— With files from The Associated Press