Home soil advantage is worth a tenth or two out on track, so the old adage goes - but it also appeared to provide a boost in the pit lane for Williams' rookie Lance Stroll in Montreal. Not only did the Canadian score his first points of the season at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, he also helped Williams set a new standard for the other teams to aim at in 2017 - a full stop in just 2.17 seconds...
Stroll was actually one of the last drivers to make his first stop, pitting on lap 25 - the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer made their stops on lap 11 under the safety car, by means of comparison. And while the stop was rapid - almost 0.4s quicker than Stroll's previous best - it couldn't prevent him from falling to the back of the field. He had to do his talking on track therefore, gradually picking his way back up the order to eventually claim ninth at the chequered flag.
Red Bull had held the distinction of the fastest stop previously, having turned Max Verstappen around in 2.33s in Russia. The Dutchman didn't even get to the pit stop window in Montreal however, with technical gremlins spoiling what had been an extremely promising start.
Daniel Ricciardo did at least register the sixth fastest pit stop for the team, at 2.74s. His chief rival on the track, Force India's Sergio Perez, was fractionally quicker at 2.55s - which almost proved decisive as the pair emerged side by side following the Mexican's stop. Had either man been a tenth faster or slower, the identity of the final podium finisher could have been very different.
McLaren's pursuit of a first point score might be ongoing, but they did get both cars inside the top 10 in the pit lane - as did Mercedes, Force India and Ferrari. The latter's score was particularly noteworthy - their 16-point haul lifts them on to the brink of overhauling Toro Rosso for fifth overall.
The championship is heating up – and we next head to Baku, where Williams delivered their astonishing 1.92s turnaround last year of course...
