Canadian Lance Stroll turned 18 years old on Oct. 29. Five days later, he signed to race for Williams F1 in 2017.

Stroll is the youngest FIA European Formula 3 champion, but word is that the Stroll family is paying Williams at least $25 million for the drive in 2017 -- in addition to around $15 million spent this year to fund a discreet eight-circuit testing program for Stroll, using an unliveried 2014 Williams-Mercedes, to make sure that he knows the cars and the circuits before he makes his F1 debut.

Williams has downplayed the financial side of the deal, but, according to one insider, it was "a no-brainer" when they considered the funding and Stroll's performances in Formula 3.

Inevitably, there are questions about Stroll's talent. To fully understand why, you need to roll back the clock 25 years, to 1991, long before Stroll was born. At the time, Lance's father, Lawrence Stroll, was a newly successful fashion entrepreneur. That year, he began sponsoring Team Lotus, with rising stars Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert, using the Tommy Hilfiger and Pepe Jeans brands. Lawrence was not subtle. He was loud and brash and clearly wanted the F1 world to know he was rich. But he wasn't that rich -- when Lotus fell on hard times, he didn't step in to save it.

In 1998, the year Lance was born, the Hilfiger name appeared on the Ferraris and Lawrence returned to the F1 paddock, hanging out with Michael Schumacher. Lawrence was always a Ferrari fan. He raced in the Ferrari Challenge, and, not long ago, he paid $27.5 million for a Ferrari 330 Spyder.

He also owns the Mont Tremblant race circuit in Canada.

Today, thanks to investing in Michael Kors, Lawrence Stroll is worth around $2.5 billion. He has houses dotted around the world, a super yacht, a private jet.

Money really is no object.

Lance grew up inspired by Michael Schumacher. There is no question that he has enjoyed every possible advantage that money can buy, but he has delivered results and has earned his FIA Super License. If you don't have one, you can be as rich as anything, but you still can't race in Formula 1 -- and they aren't for sale.

Fellow Canadian Jacques Villeneuve says that Lance should not be judged on his money.

"Money does not buy you talent," he says. "But also, paying does not mean that you have no talent. He's lucky to have an unlimited budget. Very few drivers have such an opportunity."

Lance himself does not deny his good fortune.

"I come from money, I'm not going to deny that," he says. "But I believe I have earned my shot in F1. I have won every championship that I've competed in in single-seaters."

Gwen Lagrue, the Mercedes-Benz driver development advisor who watches for, and helps to develop, young talents and is currently working with Mercedes junior drivers Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein, has no doubts about Lance's abilities.

"Lance won Italian Formula 4 and has had a fantastic season in European Formula 3 in 2016," Villeneuve says. "Even after he had won the title, he took pole position and won at the last race. So for me, there is no question about his talent. Behind every Formula 1 driver, there are people providing funding. Lance is lucky to have his own, but that does not mean that he does not have the talent to be in F1. For me, he is very strong. He has everything. He's very intelligent, well-educated and very determined. I know the people at Prema very well, and I know what Lance has done to win in F3. He has all the skills that you need to be in F1 -- no question."

Pat Symonds, the chief technical officer at Williams, says that the team has been watching Lance since the start of 2015.

"Like many young drivers, he was quick, but last year, he had a lot of accidents," Symonds says. "I have seen that happen before several times with some pretty good guys. Often the ones who don't have the accidents don't make it. Lance excelled at having accidents. Some of them were really quite scary, but the real test came this year, to see if he had learned from that, settled down and would race well. The answer to that is, undoubtedly, yes. You can have all the advantages in the world, but you still have to win it -- and he didn't just win it, he dominated it. We have seen him drive well at the front under great pressure. We have seen him come through the field, and, particularly, we have seen him drive very well in the wet. You put that lot together and you say: 'What's not to like?'

"You can have situations where a parent wants a son to be a racing driver, but it is never going to work. Lawrence is really, really keen on racing, but I think Lance is every bit as keen and as determined. Lawrence got where he is in business by being determined -- so if those genes are in Lance, then we're looking good."

The stories about Lawrence spending as much as $80 million on his son's career should not be taken too seriously. It is probably half that figure, but Lawrence Stroll is a wheeler-dealer, and the word is that he believes that he can find sponsorship that will not only cover the costs, it'll possibly even make a profit.

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