17-year-old had previously been part of Ferrari's Driver Academy
Friday 27 November 2015 11:02, UK
Williams have signed Canadian teenager Lance Stroll to their Young Driver Development Programme.
The 17-year-old had previously been a member of Ferrari's Driver Academy, carrying the Scuderia's logo on his car during his European F3 campaign in 2015.
Williams say Stroll will be "fully-immersed into the team during 2016, in a similar capacity to that of Valtteri Bottas when he first joined the team in a development role in 2011".
The Canadian will benefit from "extensive simulator time" as part of his new role and will combine it with a second season in European F3.
"I'm really honoured to be part of such a great team and one with so much history and success," Stroll said.
"I cannot wait to start working with Williams and very much hope we can achieve great things together in the coming years. It's a very exciting and crucial time in my short motor racing career. Reaching F1 was always the ultimate goal, I suppose ever since driving a go-kart my father had bought me for my fifth birthday."
Williams brought many of the current F1 field into the sport, which Stroll says was a key factor in his decision to join the team.
"Williams has a long history of nurturing young drivers at the start of their F1 careers. David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg and most recently Valtteri.
"This element was something that was important to me in making the decision to join Williams.
"I won the Italian Formula 4 Championship last season in my first year of car racing after karts, won the Toyota Racing Series at the beginning of 2015 and finished fifth in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in my first year which, having also won a race, hit my pre-season target.
"My future is now with Williams, which I'm very excited about."
Aside from race drivers Bottas and Felipe Massa, Williams also had Susie Wolff, Alex Lynn and Adrian Sutil on their books in 2015. Wolff retired from motorsport after the Race of Champions, while the futures of Lynn and Sutil are unclear, with neither currently thought to be under contract for 2016.
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