Stroll has Force India fitting ‘just in case’

Although Claire Williams says he won’t be joining Force India until Singapore at the earliest, Lance Stroll has had a seat fitting with his father’s team “just in case.”

With Lawrence Stroll leading the consortium that purchased the Force India team over the August break, it is only a matter of time before he son swaps from Williams to Force India.

And Stroll has already had a seat fitting in preparation for that pending move.

“He came and had a look around and did a seat fit,” team principal Otmar Szafnauer said. “So he fits in the car, just in case.”

Szafnauer, though, acknowledges that the finer details of Stroll’s move to Force India, which include finding a new home for Esteban Ocon or even Sergio Perez, have yet to be resolved.

He told RaceFans: “As we sit here today I don’t know, I cannot predict, I can’t tell you, mainly because it hasn’t been decided.

“And for that to happen I’m sure a lot of other stuff has to happen and it’s not just a switch.”

There is, however, one upside to Tuesday’s seat fitting with technical director Andy Green saying there were a “few things” that Force India need to change for 2019 in order to accommdate Stroll in the car.

He explained: “What we wanted to do was make sure there was nothing we needed to change on next year’s car, subtly for him.

“There were a few things we need to change, which we caught just in time.”

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