Lance Stroll has had a rollercoaster rookie season with the Williams F1 team. Troubles have placed him near the bottom of the standings throughout the year, but he proved a comeback in his latest race at the Canadian Grand Prix. There, he finished in a career-best ninth place, earning him the first points of his career. However, that wasn’t enough to impress F1 legend Jacques Villeneuve as he had some harsh words to follow after the event.
Shortly after Sunday’s finish, the Williams rookie said “It’s special to be able to overtake and fight. It’s not every race — sometimes it’s boring and you just finish where you start but today wasn’t like that. Today was just a lot of fun.”
Despite that, Stroll caught plenty of criticism from the French-Canadian hero. Villeneuve said in a statement “Results speak for themselves … It is one of the worst rookie performances in the history of Formula 1.”
This comes after the 1997 F1 champion backed Stroll earlier in the season, supporting his spot on the Williams team. Many were skeptical of Stroll’s place on the crew because of his father’s $80 million donation to the cause.
Stroll reacted to Villeneuve’s comments, as Autoweek reports. “I don’t care what people think. I’m happy for me and the team. The rest is noise. People who do not like me will always find excuses.”
Stroll remains optimistic for the rest of the F1 calendar. He told Le Journal de Montreal “I always had confidence … I also know there will be nothing easy about the next races. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and we’re working hard for more good results.”