While Formula One is littered with fallen dynasties, few have unravelled with such shocking haste as the once-mighty Williams.

Formerly a team of titans, graced with stellar drivers from Keke Rosberg to Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell to Alain Prost, the house that Sir Frank Williams built today has no firmer foundations than Lance Stroll and Sergei Sirotkin, two callow recruits chosen less for their proven talent than for the money they bring.

As a native of Quebec, who learned his craft on karting tracks within an hour’s drive of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Stroll is serious business here in Montreal. Even at 19, he finds his name adorning one of the main grandstands, with his matinee-idol looks ensuring that local TV crews give him almost the same attention as Michael Douglas, a regular visitor to the Canadian Grand Prix. Trouble is, his ability scarcely justifies the hype.

But for an improbable podium finish in Baku last year, he has looked error-prone and ill at ease, earning just 44 points in his 18 months in the sport. Under normal circumstances, Stroll would not come near a seat at Williams, a marque with nine world titles in the bank. But these are straitened times at the team’s base in Grove, Oxfordshire, with results in a tailspin after a car redesign led to a collapse in performance. Only three years ago, Williams finished third in the constructors’ championship.