For the past five years, Armstrong has been a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, living at the Ferrari base in Maranello, Italy. During his time in Italy, he got to work alongside some of the best minds in the sport including F1 championship winning engineers.
However, it was a busy lifestyle for the young Kiwi. While he had his own F3 and F2 campaigns to take care of, he was also spending plenty of time helping with car development for the F1 size and says that wasn't necessarily the best thing for helping him to achieve his personal goals.
"It was a great five years in Ferrari. I got to meet a lot of fantastic people and work with engineers that had been winning championships with Schumacher back in the day. I got to meet so many great people and I learnt a lot, but it was also very easy to over-analyse things," he says.
"I don't think it complemented my F2 season so well, just because I sort of got used to driving F1 on the simulator. It is remarkably different, the two categories, and I don't think it was so good for my F2 season, but since leaving I feel like there's less people to answer to.
"There's a small bubble of people now that I'm working closely with in order to get the best performance, and I think that is the best solution to win the championship this year."
Among that small bubble of people is Hitech owner Oliver Oakes, who is a familiar presence for Armstrong as it was Oakes who scouted the young Kiwi when he was 14 for Tony Kart, and invited him over to Europe to pursue a career in racing.
At the time, Oakes was in the process of creating the Hitech team and now it's something of a homecoming for Armstrong who has relocated to London to join the team – replacing fellow Kiwi Liam Lawson who is driving for Carlin this season – and has enjoyed a calmer lifestyle.
"It's a great environment. English vibe is quite similar to the Kiwi, so just from a cultural standpoint it is very nice, very refreshing," Armstrong says. "They're already helped me to improve myself and I think throughout the season they're going to push me hard to raise my game as a driver.
"I definitely feel more relaxed, but that's just due to the team I'm in, I think. Hitech are doing their job and they're helping me do my job better. It's comforting, in a way, to know that everyone is on the same page.
"We've put a lot more emphasis on fitness this year, so that's another key component of this season. Last year I genuinely didn't have enough time in the days to set aside three hours a day for the gym. It just wasn't possible. This year there's a lot of emphasis on training and fitness and I think it's going to pay off."
Through the opening races of the season – in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – Armstong has looked comfortable in his new surroundings. In Bahrain, a difficult qualifying session saw him start 13th on the grid, but he quickly made his way up the field in the feature race – jumping eight places to finish fifth. In Saudi Arabia last weekend, he qualified in P3 and on reflection said a fifth-place finish was probably as good as he could have done in the feature race.
Seventh in the standings with 20 points at this early mark of the season – with 11 events still ahead on the F2 calendar – Armstrong says he isn't adding unnecessary pressure to prove himself for a potential F1 berth in the not-too-distant future.
Instead, he wants to let his driving make his case for him.
"To make F1 you do need to be young, for whatever reason. You don't often see a 30-year-old breaking into Formula 1, so you do need to come out with a splash when you're young. It's really important to show your potential," he says.
"The goal at the end of [this season] is to be consistently getting the most out of myself, getting the most out of the car, consistently fighting for race wins, and clearly being strong. That's my personal goal.
"From a results standpoint, I'd like to be top three in the championship. F1 is one of those things where it's completely out of my control at the moment when it comes to contract offers and all that. What I do have control over is the results, so that's my focus.
"My job is very much to perform on track, and I'm confident that [my management] are going to sort everything out on the contractual side.
"It's a tough balance, but it's important."
While now chasing his own dream on some of the most renowned tracks around the world, Armstrong adds he is happy to be a guide to any young Kiwis who want to pursue a career of their own in the sport.
"If there are any young Kiwis who want to start karting, they should message me and I'll give them a hand."
