Rock 'n Stroll . . . The Stroller Thread.

Lots of good points, we will see how he does during the rest of the season. I agree he could be having MUCH more fun and I'm sure he would rather be anywhere but F1 this afternoon.

I for one have been immensely bored by f1 the last few years, it's always been the best Team and the rest don't matter. This year is turning into a real treat.

With that being said being on a back marker team does it matter? everyone is bashing him due to his father. What about the other drivers that "suck"?

Why don't we start individual threads for the last 75% of the grid and point out all their faults and how bad they are.

To me it sounds like a bunch of grown men that are jealous.

I said the same stuff during all the couch potato internet surfer threads about "massa sucks" "kimi sucks" etc. etc. You know the type, over the hill fat nobodies that between ice cream cartons get online to criticize world class athletes.

 

The indignation about Lance Stroll of some in this thread is hilarious! Motor racing has always run, not on cubic inches, but cubic Dollars (or Pounds, Lira, Franc and now Euros).

Countless individuals that came from wealth have participated over the years. Some had parental backing, others did not despite familial wealth. Prince Bira, Marquis de Portago, Von Trips, Maria Teresa de Filippis all came from wealth. Some were successful, others were not. No one here questions their involvement. Lauda came from wealth, but his parents played no part in funding his efforts as they thought it was a rather stupid pursuit.

The simple fact is that racing, particularly at the early levels takes great resources. Marshaling the necessary revenue is as important as driving ability. It may be true that Lance has out kicked his coverage by getting to F1, but the fact is that he is there due to necessary financial backing whether it is from family wealth or from outside. He is at least not State sponsored as Maldonado was. It is never a pure ladder of talent to get to the top.

It remains to be seen if he can raise his game to F1 levels. You can't yet judge Stroll based on what he has done so far, as he remains a rookie. History will do that years from now. As long as racing takes money, wealth will always play a role in getting to the highest levels. To think otherwise is childish and Pollyanna. Talent doesn't always win the day and there continue to be many talented drivers who will not get the opportunity to show their skills because of lack of funds. If you don't like it, go sponsor someone who you believe in. There are lots of opportunities.....

 

Indeed.

 

Very true, but usually those who can muster the most backing from sponsors (drivers or teams) are the ones who have previously displayed real talent on the track, or are seen a promising. There is intense competition in sponsor-hunting too.

As a rule of thumbs, any sponsor wishes to back the BEST it can afford; the best team or the best driver. All that is thrown away when the entry in the pinnacle of motorsport is achieved through family sponsorship though. The rationale goes out of the window.

Lawrence Stroll didn't seek to sponsor the most promising new talent to F1; no, he wanted to promote his son in the top series. It's a personal indulgence, more than a logical decision.

The pity is that this fudge has probably robbed a talented driver from a seat at Williams, to make room for someone who is seen as not really deserving the drive.
To me, that says more about the state of affairs at Williams than anything else.

Those are my personal views ...

 

Gotta disagree on this point, while experience can bring some people up to mid field status, you can still judge a rookie by what they do.

Same for movie directors, engineers, doctors, etc.

We share views in many other aspects.

I have gotten to see what happens when F1/NASCAR/INDY/RALLY drivers come out to my local kart track for the first time. The ones at the front of their respective sports, are impressive despite being "rookies" to the track.

There are drivers that as rookies, are quite impressive. They may throw away something here or there, but they impress from the box. Then there are those that may never amount to anything.

Danica Patrick had a year and 3/4 with the best SHR had to offer, she still can't handle the changes of a race. Fast in qualifying, fast at the beginning, and faaaaaaade. How many years has it been since she was a rookie?

Compare to Alex Bowman when he substituted for Dale Earnhardt Junior.

Or for F1, look at what Vettel did, or Max Verstapen.

Even if you judge rookies by the standards of other rookies, Stroll is lacking.

Providing he's funding F1 and not wrecking out other cars from over exuberance, I don't care.

 

I think it depends. Sponsors - are after exposure and viewership. If a driver is dead last, popular, people love them, that driver is on the news, interviews, looks good in adds, talks well to the public, has large social media following, etc, then to the sponsor, they are getting their moneys worth.

Now teams, can see things a little different. They want to win; to place well if not win. It is VERY important for them to have at least one driver that is the best they can get. A good driver won't beat another good driver of equal talent if that other driver is in a better car, but if your driver is better, you've got better chances. If you can't get talent, at least get money.

I have not seen a driver that I competed against, and respected their talent; without a sponsor to keep racing in some form or another. Some lost their fire, before moving up to the top level; that is why they dropped out. There are indeed limited seats at the top level, but below, there are teams that want to have that talent in their organisation too, talent can find rides. There are those that are merely good, and those that are racers. The racers are something else entirely, and they keep a seat in the ranks so long as they have their abilities and willpower.

 

My issue with Stroll is not that his dad bought him the seat.

My issue is that Williams took the money and gave a seat to someone who is NOT QUALIFIED to run an F1 car. He's not just behind the curve. He's not experienced enough.

 

+100

By that shows how low Williams has to go now to fund its budget.

It's not a good sign.

 

Claiming he understands the track at Monaco because he plays on his playstation and got a tan in Nice while in high school doesn't qualify as experience!

 

+18

 

You don't get much of that if your driver keeps being a tail ender or makes the news for the wrong reason.

How often do you see the cameras chasing Wehrlein or Ericson lately, or the journalists insisting to interview Palmer and Magnussen?

To get exposure and viewership, a team or a driver needs to be in the action, and worth for the cameras to follow them. That's how.

Of course sponsors get what they pay for. If you have only $10M to offer, your stickers will adorn the cars of a "minnow" team; but if you spend $100M you have more chance to see your team and favoured driver to be regularly in the hunt for a podium.
For that, you have to back the right team and put your money on the right jockey, without being too sentimental about it.

Lawrence Stroll works to a different model; he uses his money to promote his son.
Fair enough, but that doesn't fit the logic of sponsorship.
Good luck to him, all the same ...

 

Yep, it's ''wasting money'', just on a different scale. Plenty of business owners race in the extremely popular GT3 series (such as Blancpain) and pay out of their own pocket to do so...sure they'll put a sticker or two of their own businesses on the car but the exposure it generates is minimal of course...it's mostly to satisfy their own lust for racing, and there's nothing wrong with that. Stroll does the same with his son.

The big difference of course is that whilst there are only 20 F1 seats, there's (virtually) an unlimited amount of GT3 seats...

 

It's mostly wasting a good car!!!!

 

I think Alonso may give an idea to Lawrence Stroll. If Lance don't quite make the grade in F1 and loses his seat at Williams, the next step may be to buy him a drive at Andretti and enter him at Indy.
That, I would like to see.
Eh, it worked for Rossi ... And Sato .

 

Because he is not developing per race at all. He knows it inside himself as he see's the utter talent surrounding him. He simply does not compare at all.

 

I agree..i'm pretty sure lance is aware that he's simply not in the same league as the other drivers..and this can't make him happy...

 

I am wondering how it will all end.

I can see Lance Stroll falling off the cliff one day and leaving F1, never to drive a race car again.

A bit like Lance Reventlow in the 60s.

 

Best result is he slowly gets closer to Massa. This will take extreme hard work as he appears to lack natural speed compared to say Max. Graham Hill did it but would somebody from such a privileged background have enough inner drive?

Pete

 

Stroll sucks but his dad's $ will buy him a seat for the foreseeable future

 

He may not always find a seat available, or a team interested in running his son.

 

I think it's Massa who is getting slower by the day. Since 2009 actually.

 

True, but as Elton has shown, all you have to beat is your team mate. So if Massa slows so that Stroll is faster and Williams pull their finger out of their arse, Stroll will be WDC.
Pete

 

Williams will just keep asking for more and more, until Stroll closes that tap....and then Williams can easily get someone deserving in that seat, a guy that will get the points . Either a Mercedes junior or hell, even a Ferrari Young Driver...Having the sensational Charles Leclerc will be amazing.

 

There are at least 3 teams currently who'd put a monkey in their cars if the monkey brought enough bananas