Stroll says he couldn’t doubt himself amid F1 mid-season struggles

While the Spaniard logged eight podiums, Stroll’s best result was a fourth in the high-attrition Australian GP.

However, after struggling to come to terms with the AMR23 for much of the year, Stroll finished the season on a high with solid fifth places in Brazil and Las Vegas.

Stroll says those late-season results were a reflection of him feeling more comfortable with the car as changes made it more to his liking.

“It feels good to do well, for sure,” he said. “But I knew that if I feel the platform working well underneath me, and I can drive the car freely without kind of dealing and driving around things that inherently bothered me in the car, I’d be at a good level and I’d get the most out of myself.

“And I know that for a few months with changes that were made, there were weekends where I just couldn’t get into that place where I felt free in the car, and I can just drive at my best. Because it just wasn’t behaving the way I wanted.

“And at this level when you have those issues, when the car is just not behaving how you want inherently, and it doesn’t agree with your driving style, it won’t work.

“And I think in those moments you can’t put the doubt on yourself, it’s like you just have to know that when it’s going to be there and it’s going to behave the way you want, it’s going to go well, and when it’s not there it’s not going to behave the way you want it’s going to be more challenging.

“That’s F1, the drivers are all very high level, you can never be competitive if you’re not comfortable and confident in your car and just driving freely and it’s working. I think that’s my perception of it.”

Stroll’s season was also marked by technical issues which frequently cost him valuable time in practice and sometimes afflicted his races.

“Yeah, it’s been a season with a lot of bad luck, a lot of missed opportunity,” he said. “I don’t like using the words bad luck, but I think missed opportunities.

“But I guess it’s bad luck when I think about the failures and stuff. We had races like Saudi running P4, engine problem, Monaco quali, hitting debris. Damage to the car in Q2 and starting from mid-pack in Monaco, you lose your weekend. I think back to places like Suzuka, having a good race, rear wing failure.

“In Zandvoort we missed the pitstop when the rain came down, we stayed out on track, it was a wrong decision. We were in a good place to score…