Current Lance Stroll

He only signed for Williams a few days ago but there has already been a large amount of discussion about Lance Stroll. It was suggested he needed his own thread so here it is.

Lance Stroll first came on to my own radar when watching the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand during Jan 2015. Often used as a warm-up for young talent pre-season to get them used to proper car racing its always close racing. Lance was the tender age of 16 and part of the Ferrari young driver program. He was also massively impressive with 10 podiums (4 wins) from 16 races in a car he'd hardly driven and tracks he'd never raced on. He was the eventual champion and I mentally stored him as someone to watch out for. From the Toyota series he went straight into European F3 for the 2015 series and unfortunately I felt like he was dwarfed somewhat by the rest of the field who had more experience than him. He was going up against the likes of Felix Rosenquist, Antonio Giovanazzi and Charles LeClerc who were all older and looked far more impressive. Looking back on it though he didn't actually do too bad. One win, 4 podiums and 5th in the championship is not bad for a 16 year old, also if you look at his results he got stronger and stronger as the season went on which was a sure sign he was learning.

2016 saw Lance take it up a step, he has clearly been dominant in the F3 series and has 14 wins and the title with the series not even being finished yet. It was during this year that I learned something new about Lance. I learnt his father was a billionaire. Why did I learn this? Well he was suddenly being connected to the Williams F1 race seat, apparently due to his father investing heavily in the team. This appears to have been met with considerable vitriol from some quarters who are suggesting he is buying his way into F1 and doesn't deserve the seat. Stroll turned 18 on the 28th October which meant the Martini sponsored Williams team could finally announce him as a driver and within days there were already people writing about nepotism and putting $ in the spelling of his name. All this before he's even turned a wheel. Its a bit of a shame really that a driver who has been so utterly dominant of a highly rated junior series should be labelled a 'pay-driver'. The same people have probably spent the last few years moaning about Williams conservative driver choice in the form of Massa, so you think the promotion of an 18 year old F3 champion would be warmly welcomed.

On the driving front its really hard to know what to expect from Stroll in 2017 due to the fact that we have no idea where the Williams car will be. I have a horrible feeling that Williams are a team in decline and that Stroll is going to suffer for it. I also don't think he'll be quick straight out of the blocks either, which might give the haters an excuse. Stroll's pattern over the last two years is to be paired with a more experienced team mate and gradually learn the ropes and start to shine later in the year. I expect this to be repeated and for him to be out done by Bottas until at least the summer break. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start to get on level terms from then on it. Lets face it, Bottas comes highly rated so if he starts to beat him he's going to gain some kudos.

Lastly I think its great for F1 to have a Canadian back on the grid (Robert Wickens should have got a seat a while back by the way) as its a country that loves the sport and it'll be great for them to have someone to cheer on.
 
i was looking through the euro F3 Championship stats, to see more on Lance Stroll & he looks on paper like a bit of perez, quick with cash as out of the 26 races of the 30 races he finished, he won 14 times, finished on podium 21 times & won title by 187pts. also just look at his record from final race at Pau onwards (Red Bull Ring Norisring Zandvoort Spa Nurburgring Imola Hockenheim)
2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 Ret Ret 1 Ret 4 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1

i was very critical on Massa rehiring, as i said he was past it last season nevermind 2017 but ive kind of changed my mind. i have been thinking last few days that Felipe Massa as strange as it sounds what ever he does on track is a bonus, because he hired more for his off track benefits than his on track talents. he's there to mentor stroll, settling him in get used to F1, guiding on set up & how to do a race weekend
 
But there always a teammate
Who has to move over, so there's not much competition coming from them.

I'm afraid it's going to show that he is either not prepared for F1 or maybe even not talented enough. The onboard footage before the crash shows that he is struggling to control the car. He has a lot of work ahead of him, this may only be the first race but if he continues to get destroyed by Massa in as similar fashion his career will be over.

He has also had plenty of preparation in a two year old Williams on various race tracks all over the world, therefore there can be no excuses made.

Edit: He also had a different chassis than his teammates. The Dallara F-316 while the others raced the F-315 chassis.
 
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A tough baptism of fire and the on board twitchness at the wheel with the car shows his rather inexperience. Its early days ..give him time. I remember Button first race for Williams at Melbourne he barely done enough testing and first race because of an engine failure was at the back of the grid

I think the new regulations are at least showing if you make a mistake then it is going to be very costly
 
Interesting fact that Stroll & Button are very Similar. They both qualified on back row

Rutherford ah i didnt know about chassis's i assumed like most junior formulae like gp2 gp3 fr3.5 that have the same spec throughout the grid.

I would put Stroll in GP2. but then problem is Max Verstappen. I said he's too young, go into GP2 max ends up as 2015 driver of the yr. Its too soon for the senior team let him develop at Toro Rosso he wins on his senior team debut & proves us all wrong again
 
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F1Brits_90 Given the powertrain era with Pirelli rubber that lasts barely 5 laps it suggests drivers were not being tested so it might have been easier for Verstappen to make his name in F1. This week Verstappen's pace to Ricciardo was quite significantly slower so it would been interesting to see where Ricciardo would have finished had he not gone off
 
Rutherford ah i didnt know about chassis's i assumed like most junior formulae like gp2 gp3 fr3.5 that have the same spec throughout the grid

It is a spec series and the difference between the two types of chassis is minimal. It's really about team preference and then what they plus driver do with the set up. The idea there is a 'best car' in F3 is rubbish. There can be best teams because of the personal that guide the drivers but best car is just silly.

As for the team mate accusation - this again people jumping on a rumour bandwagon. They did stick him with Cassidy as a team mate who is an experience F3 driver who did prob teach him about set up, but to be honest this is a standard motorsport practice. Did the team give Stroll preference. Yes. Why? Well Cassidy didn't race the entire season with the team and they wanted to win the title (people forget to mention that bit). As for the moving out the way thing. This all comes from one comment made by George Russell in the first race when Stroll seemed to make an easy pass on Cassidy. It was gamesmanship of then highest Alonso style order but people seemed to have jumped on it.

Truth is I Don't know how good Stroll will be as an F1 driver or if he is ready but belittling his achievements in the junior formula doesn't make much sense.

People just Don't like him because he comes from a rich family and as you can see from this thread they can't wait to see him fail. We're not even on race 1 yet.
 
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People just Don't like him because he comes from a rich family and as you can see from this thread they can't wait to see him fail.
Your typical answer in response to people who are critical of someone whos father is a billionaire, why, because it's the easiest point to attack, even if it isn't true. You have no valid arguments.
It isn't relevant if he fails or not, he's just a one guy who has come into the sport and may go out of it without anyone remembering him or he'll stay for a while and make a name for himself, we'll see.
No one is belittling his achievements in the junior categories because they are facts that you don't want to be true, e.g. that his father invested heavily into Prema, Williams (a personal simulator for Stroll jr.) etc..

We're not even on race 1 yet.

Yet he has managed to crash 4 times.
 
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Rutherford I actually answered all your critics of his junior career before saying the billionaire father thing but OK. Yes his father did invest heavily in his junior career. No one is denying that. But how do you think all the other drivers in the field got to where they are? Do you think family/friends didn't invest in them? How do you think Max Verstappen got that Red Bull contract? Where did Jenson Button get all his team backing from? They all have had people throw money at them.

The fact is that Lance Stroll is the only rookie I know who has ever had a website set up mocking the amount of times he's crashed after two days of testing. All rookies crash. That's the point of being a rookie.

He might turn out to be shocking and I might be calling him all the names under the sun in a few weeks but right now there is no grounds for it. Its quite clear what the agenda in the media is.
 
No RasputinLives other drivers do not get money thrown at them and the families of the drivers you mentioned were and are not as wealthy as Stroll father - who is 5 times wealthier than Michael Schumacher.
Before a lot of drivers get any kind of investment they have to out perform their competition and remain at top level or else the sponsor will end his investment.
Max Verstappen got the Red Bull contract because he generated a lot of interest through outstanding results in Karting and in F3 - it was only then that he received the Red Bull offer.

There are plenty of similar websites created for footballers and other sporting personas or teams, e.g. When did Torres last score etc., they have been around for a long time.

No a rookie only describes a person who is new to a sport. That does not mean that one can come into the sport unprepared.
He seems to be out of his depth, in testing, in free practice and in qualifying - two seconds off Massas pace. No matter how experienced a driver is he will always crash at some point in his career. Stroll though has crashed four times since winter testing despite having completed over 2000 km in an old Williams. I have not witnessed that in a long time and I haven't seen any rookie struggle as much with the car as he has so far but maybe I can't remember any of those drivers - Ide, Yamamoto?.
 
Rutherford the fact you've said his dad is 5 times wealthier just rams home my point to be honest.

Yes Max Verstappen generated a lot of interest in karting. Interest generated by his father using all the contacts he had, including within the Red Bull team. Doesn't make him any less talented but you'd be silly to think he didn't have a leg up because of his dad.

F1 media know Jos though so report on it in a positive light. They need a story for Stroll and they ain't mates with his daddy so decided a negative story is better click bait. You might very well be an avid F3 fan so I won't say all these 'facts' about how he didn't really win the F3 title in such style came from articles read and published after he signed from Williams but I suspect most people who quote them have prob got them that route.

Stroll was a Ferrari academy driver prior to signing for Williams and has generated interest by winning various junior championships.

As for comparing him to Yamamoto. Are you actually being serious or just trying to push buttons now?
 
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I think Stroll and Massa should be put in a pit, blindfolded and each be given a front wing as a weapon. Whoever survives gets 10% of Verstappen's personality as a prize.
 
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