Williams technical officer Paddy Lowe says Lance Stroll had a private test last week at the Circuit of the Americas, which contributed to his qualifying performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.



Stroll qualified in eighth position after out-qualifying his team-mate Felipe Massa for the first time this season. It was also his second time reaching Q3 having qualified 10th in China.



The private test was held last Wednesday in a 2014 FW36 and focussed on playing with different setups in the car as well as getting more track time on a circuit the Canadian hasn't raced on before.



"We went to Austin last week driving the 2014 car so did a few experiments there with set-up, looking at the differences between his set-up and Felipe's set-up," Lowe explained. "Some of that has been brought forward here and I think that's put him in a much better place.



"[The changes are] generic things that are common to most racing cars actually, just around how we've got the car configured, which definitely helped him.



"The trouble on a Friday is you've got limited time, limited number of tyres, they're often not the same type of tyre, and the tracks moving quite quickly as well, so it's a great advantage to be able to go just spend a whole day on something."



Stroll completed a seven-month test programme with a 2014 Williams F1 car in 2016, which saw him drive on European as well as non-European race track in preparation for his debut season this year.



The additional test the Canadian received last week also helped his development, as Lowe believes entering Formula 1 in 2017 is one of the most difficult times for a rookie driver.



"Certainly, I feel like Lance's Formula 1 career is now properly launched," he continued. "You could argue this is the most difficult time to come in as a rookie with the current formula and the current situation.

"Experienced drivers really struggling themselves, world champions struggling to make the tyres work in certain situations. We saw Lewis even said this in February in Barcelona, it was a difficult time to enter the sport as a rookie."