Lance Stroll's podium finish in Baku a week ago have boosted Williams' prospects against Force India in the Constructor's standings, says Paddy Lowe.
Williams is currently fifth in the championship, 41 points adrift of Force India, but the Grove-based outfit's tech boss was full of praise for Stroll's achievement in Azerbaijan and what it entails for the future.
"It is a very tough challenge for Lance to come into Formula 1 this season at a very young age and arguably the most difficult season to kick-off a rookie career in," Lowe said.
"It has been very, very tough as we have seen. Some of it hasn't been his making, some of it our making, some from others but at other times he hasn't been able to be on the pace."
Lowe believes the young Canadian's podium in Baku, which followed his maiden top-ten finish in Montreal, was a break-through performance which the teenager will build on going forward.
"Now he has established himself and has the confidence to move on from here and we consider to have two fully performing drivers," Lowe added.
"That is something we couldn't have seen at the start of the season because it was a very difficult start.
"It puts us in a great shape for the remainder of 2017 to develop the car and score points on both sides of the garage."
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