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.
 
RasputinLives provide the evidence for me.

I Don't really have evidence because you can't really evidence it but I've watched Vandorne through four formulas and seen him progress and dominate everyone he was in. I've seen him command in the best machinery and I've seen him push awful machinery to places it shouldn't go. I've seen some great speed and performance from Max but I've seen nothing like the consistency of results and performance I've seen from Vandoorne. Max is the more exciting driver but it doesn't mean he is better. Comparing them in F1 is pointless due to the difference in machinery but I think of it like this:

If I wanted a driver to entertain and bring in sponsors then I'd go for Max. If I wanted a driver to bring the car home for consistent quality results than I'd go for Vandoorne. I'm sure I'm in the minority in this view.

Bringing it back to topic on Stroll he is more of the consistent type. Also if you look at his career it's always taken him a season to get to grips with a formula and then he aces it on the year after. So we'll see what he does next year and judge him on that I reckon.

Edit - just realised I put 'majority in this view' when I meant minority! :facepalm:
 
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Seriously if Williams are going to pick Massa again for next year , Stroll needs to bury him not literally otherwise he should not be in F1. My feeling is Toto will push for Wehrlein to replace Massa and offer Williams another discount on the engines to be Stroll's teammate unless off course in typical Williams fashion they pick the most conservative option and go for someone like DI Resta
 
Oh dear, Lance is getting a kicking on the 5Live coverage because he's slower than Felipe and not improving in the way expected. For those interested in these things, Stroll has a 3 year contract and is paying for the drive (well durr!) but the amount Williams will receive drops by $5 million a year (so it has been reported)
 
Oh dear, Lance is getting a kicking on the 5Live coverage because he's slower than Felipe and not improving in the way expected.

He fully deserves the kicking and Williams have earned one too, because Stroll hasn't improved at all. He's had several private test sessions throughout the season, even on tracks like Austin and Suzuka, yet he was no closer to Massa on those tracks.

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Stroll has given himself a rating of 8.5 out of 10. https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/106/stroll-i-ve-had-a-good-season/

Does anyone remember what Verstappen habe himself after his first season? 8 out of 10.

One driver either suffers from hubris and the other of a lack of confidence or they aren’t using the same scale.
Verstappen could‘ve driven on Massa‘s level in 2015.
Stroll spent time in Italian F4 and two seasons in F3, thus has quite a bit more experience than Verstappen when he joined F1.
 
Saw this on a Reddit thread about drivers that don’t get the credit they deserve:
I don't think Lance Stroll gets the credit he deserves. He has accomplished a lot. Not many people could have gotten where he is. Do you know how hard it is to be that one sperm that fertilizes the egg?
LOL
 
It means your joke doesn't make sense but my original one does. Meaning you look daft not me.

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Only now I've explain it everyone knows I messed it up in the first place.

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