Williams' Canadian driver Lance Stroll steers his car during the third practice session of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on June 24, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (Photo credit should read ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images)

For the first time in his young Formula One career, Lance Stroll out-qualified his much more experienced teammate, Felipoe Massa, when he recorded the eighth fastest time around the Baku City Circuit on Saturday afternoon.

Lance went out early in Q1 on the supersoft tyre and slowly improved as the session went on to make it into Q2. Once again he went out early and was in P10 after his first run. At the chequered flag Lance improved once more to go comfortably through to Q3 in P7, his first time ever in the all-important Q3 session.

Leaving it until the last minute, Lance had not set a time when Daniel Ricciardo brought out the red flags, meaning he had three minutes to get the job done when the session restarted.

So on his one and only flying lap, the Canadian rookie set a 1:42.752 to qualify eighth on new supersoft tyres, ahead of a 1:42.798 for Felipe in ninth on used supersofts.

“It was a good day, and it has been a good weekend. I am comfortable and confident in the car,” he said. “I like the circuit and today everything fell into place. I missed a bit in Q3, and I think there was some more that was possible there, as we were four tenths off compared to my lap in Q2."

"In Q3, because the track temperatures had dropped, it was hard to get the tyres ready in one lap and also because of the red flag, we only had time to do one push lap. Sometimes round here it is better when you do one push lap, then another prep lap and then another push lap. But it is still a great result and I am just happy for the team.”