Pay drivers are not new in F1. But never before has a dad had to buy an entire team to find one that will take his kid...
-18 money is obvious and an advantage. Stating Stroll has limited talent. Stating money is the only reason he is here. Asking would anyone hire him. He has money...........whatever. Money has opened doors - im so shocked to read that lol Thinking or showing he has talent enough to race vs drive. Lance is a driver. He rarely races. Would you hire him.
Well, if "my team" was at the Haas/Alfa/Force India level, and with a limited budget, I would ! I would take his money and then look for a Number One, the best driver I would now be able to afford. But wait, that's exactly what Williams did in the past !!
I would absolutely hire Stroll to drive for me if I was a team owner. Some people will then say. Well would you hire him without his money? My answer is that Stroll without his money is like asking for Hamilton without his reflexes, Charles without his eyesight, or Max without his car control. All of these are talents and you can't parse them apart like that.
The father/son relationship is new IIRC. However the idea of buying/building your own team to give yourself or your relative a seat is nothing new. Copersucar for Wilson Fittipaldi comes to mind. I'm sure there are many others.
He is hit or miss but I seen way worse than him in F1 before. I’d hire him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In lesser categories, we had PK Racing for Piquet Jr , Paul Stewart Racing started by Sir Jackie, that I can recall...
Paul Belmondo: son of French actor Jean Paul Belmondo: absolutely rubbish driver in 94. Bet u forgot him Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
True but I think after his dad did buy a GT team of some sort. Dad is a French legend though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
WHAAAAT??? Money is not a talent! Making it maybe in some ways but he didn’t even make his own and would have very little to do with driving an F1 car anyway
Talent is the wrong word. Having money is an asset. Quite literally So from a team owner's perspective Nuvolari is absolutely right. A guy with $ brings an asset to the team that can be as valuable as racing talent. And of course in the real world things are not black or white, but different kinds of grey. Stroll has $ and has some talent. Maybe less than others but still talented enough to earn a super license and make a ton of points for the RP team. The combination of what he brings to a team is definitely nothing to sneeze at. Andrea de Crasheris was a much worse form of Lance: Huge loads of Marlboro $ with which he bought his seats and pretty much zero talent. Destroyed every F1 he ever sat in. Now that's a combination that doesn't appeal much.
Agree. AFAIK, Nelson Piquet didn't arrive in Europe and shout "I WANT TO BUY A TEAM FOR MY KID!!!!". He built his team in the British F3 from scratch, bringing the engineer and mechanics from Brazil. And he said to Nelsinho "you have one year to learn, and one year to win the championship, otherwise we will go back home". Very different from an arrogant prick coming to Europe and demanding things...
Wolff: Stroll faces unfair "stigma" over father's wealth https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wolff-stroll-faces-unfair-stigma-over-fathers-wealth/4900727/?ic_source=home-page-widget&ic_medium=widget&ic_campaign=widget-22 Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says Lance Stroll faces an unfair "stigma" due to his father's wealth, and is fully deserving of his place on the Formula 1 grid. Racing Point driver Stroll is currently enjoying his best season to date in F1, scoring a podium at the Italian Grand Prix and more than double the points of his previous two seasons combined. The Canadian has often faced scrutiny through his career due to the role of his father, Lawrence, who bought the Racing Point team in 2018 ahead of his son's move there. Racing Point acknowledged earlier this year that Stroll's drive with the team was never in doubt for 2021 during its successful bid to sign four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who will replace Sergio Perez. Stroll is not the only driver to enjoy support from a wealthy father. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi has risen through the ranks with support from his father, Michael Latifi, while F2 racer Nikita Mazepin has been linked with a seat at Haas for 2021, bringing finance from his family. But Mercedes chief Wolff rejected the suggestion that F1 was moving away from being a true meritocracy, saying Stroll had fully justified his place on the grid. "Name me one [driver] this season that is not there on merit," said Wolff. "Let's look at Lance. And I'm not biased here, because I agree it should be a meritocracy. "He won the Italian F4 championship, won the international F3 championship, has been on the podium twice, and has qualified for the first row in Monza in the rain. "I don't think we can say just because his father is a billionaire that he's not here on merit. "I think he's actually suffering from the stigma that is just not right. He can't do anything for his father being very successful in his own right. "It's even more impressive that a kid with that environment chooses the most competitive or one of the most competitive sports in the world. Honestly, there is no discussion." Wolff also moved to defend the records of both Latifi and Mazepin - both of whom have won races in F2 - and said there were far fewer pay drivers in F1 compared to previous eras. "Nicholas won races in F2, and we haven't seen what he's capable of, it's his first season," Wolff said. "But he's not somebody when you look at the years 10 years ago, I don't even remember the guys, that have arrived in F1 without having even won a single race in a competitive junior series. "About next year, let's not discredit Nikita before having seen him. I think Nikita has been a regular front-runner now in the F2 season. I think he won some races, or at least he was competing for some of the race wins. "I think we're in the best possible state. We had much more drivers who came in only because they paid five or six years ago. "But maybe I have a wrong recollection. I don't want to name anybody, but you know who I mean."
While I agree with Toto, quite frankly I don't care: It is the same for Mick Schumacher, he faces a different stigma, the one of overly high expectations. So while these guys "suffer" in that way at the same token they both had a much easier entry into F1 thanks to their parents. You can't have it both ways.
Actually Lando made an astute comment about Lance following their collision. He questioned whether Lance has a problem with his peripheral vision(at least on his right side) which might explain his spatial disorientation?
+1 I wouldn't express it in those words but essentially agree. $troll believes that everyone has a price.