Williams is slowly following Tyrrell, etc. The only way they could be saved is if say Mazda decided to enter F1 as an engine supplier. Otherwise goodbye Williams. Couldn't happen to more of a prick than Frank and I'm sure his past drivers won't shred a single tear, especially D. Hill and Mansell. Pete
What? Mazda? Why would they switch to an unknown brand for the modern technology. They have good engines. The best in the last 3 years. They need a team of winning mentality. Right now, from what i see, their only goal and hope is to survive.. Pulling a Mazda is the same as pulling a Mchonda.
Say what you want, at least he was reasonably fast. decent results on paper, yes. But when you look behind all that... For just himself he had a team bigger than most F3 TEAMS, that are bringing 3-5 cars! His dad bought all the engines and had them personally tested, the best where for his boy the others went to teammates. Fastest rival teammate got the slowest engine etc. They really did try to manufacture the title for him as best they could. The testing he's done over the last year with the 2014 Williams is frankly insane, by my calculations he's the most experienced driver in hybrid cars out there (yes, let that sink in!). He's got a williams simulator at home (£30m toy) Wolff rating him higher than Verstappen? Please.
Hindsight is 20/20, it's easy to be an internet forum critic. The team's feedback from Stroll's testing was positive and Toto who runs a 3x championship team got it wrong too. Perez, apart from his 2nd place (in his second year) in GP2 hardly had a remarkable cv before F1. Reality is Williams is strapped midfield team. Hopefully he at least becomes decent in the next few races or they'll suffer for wcc points. Like McLaren I find it tragic to see Williams struggle. Considering their relationship with Merc, taking on Ocon with $$ would have been a better move.
didn't realize you were bff with rob smedley They were positive after his tests last year. Now probably not as much.
You guys crack me up. Let's see: 1. Lance's dad has big money, and he spends it on his kid. Wow, that's NUTS! Everyone knows he should be buying hookers and crack. 2. They invested all sorts in training to become better, private track, sim, lots of seat time. Again, CRAZY! Everyone knows if you want to be good at something, you don't WORK at it, you buy hookers and crack. 3. Williams - and other teams - think about money? That's CRAZY AND STUPID! If they just have the best drivers, it will all work out fine. There is no real need for money in F1, it's all about talent! Well, and hookers and crack. 4. Lance himself seems crazy too. Because it looks really hard, driving the new cars. If I were him, I'd just give up, especially because a bunch of people on the internet seem to think that's what they would do in his shoes. And get some hookers and maybe some crack.
You don't have to believe me. But I do know how much testing he's done (the real figure not the public one), and I also know the real opinion of him within the team, not the public one. FWIW they really do think he's a nice kid but not at all ready.
I agree. I have no feelings about Stroll one way or the other but F1 is now a business, and businesses need cash to develop and survive. So Williams decided it was more astute to take Stroll's cash now than to spend months begging corporate sponsors to underwrite a more "deserving" driver. Easy choice, that one, and more on Williams than on Stroll.
Stroll will improve if he has the capability. Unfortunately the only other 'teen' in F1 is Max. Good luck. He has a mountain to climb and at most 1 or 2 years to prove he has the talent or the money wont matter at all.
No I fully understand Williams position. They're making a stupid amount of money from him even if he doesn't score many points. And from Stroll's perspective I kinda get it too...he wants to race in F1 and certainly they have the means to. If my dad was a billionaire and I had the opportunity I'd certainly try the same. However, you can't fake talent. Even with one of the thicker wallets in the world. Stroll has the luxury of being in F1 for a while until the plug gets pulled. I can see him racing sports cars at some point (buy a team and race). I'd do the same.
His debut in F1 ,as the second youngest driver ever (18) to start an F1 race,could have been a lot worse. His crash in FP3 basically messed up his qualifying run,he made a good start from last position,passed 3 drivers into turn 1 at the same time flat spotting a tyre.So they changed strategy to a 2 stopper. Was running a comfortable 13th ,and improving when he had the brake problem causing his retirement. The Williams looks like the best of the rest after the top 3 teams so he has a pretty good platform to progress his way up the grid. After all the (rich) kid is only 18 ,the benchmark for him is Felipe who is 35 with around 250+ F1 races over 15 seasons under his belt. I agree he is not exactly looking like the next Max V at the moment,but he has earned his shot at F1.Let's see how he goes after a few more races. Some of the armchair pundits on here 'racing' on their playstations can't seem to get over the fact that he has a proven track record in Karting,ItalianF4,Toyota Series, Euro F3. Ok ok the fact that papa is a billionaire obviously helped a lot to get him up to this level,but now it is up to him to perform..time will tell.
Very good analysis and it is my opinion that it is too early to tell. I have been involved with racing most of my life and I'm just sick and tired of hearing people bellyache about 'talent' needing to be what drivers are chosen on. Reality is that motor racing is primarily NOT a merit-based activity with money determining progression more than any other factor. Not accepting that shows a lack of knowledge on the sport/business; the money a driver has is every bit as much a rule of the game as engines and tires. In addition the current costs of racing are so high that determining if someone is 'talented' costs many millions of dollars to achieve. Anyone in a lower formula even with great results can only 'think' or 'assume' they are talented until the money is spent for them to develop and prove these assumptions. Mind you arrogance, pride, and jealousy does rear its head here quite often leading people who only THINK they are talented to lament those out there doing it at a higher level than they are. Which brings us to Lance who is unusually wealthy and young in the sport of F1 (two problems I'd LOVE to have mind you). In a world of the very wealthy his dad has just sheer decimated any spending seen before on his son skewing the perception. Lets not forget there are lots of kids out there having MILLONS spent on their racing and here comes a guy willing to shell out tens and tens of millions. In a world where the very system of racing (with all the money needed) is screwed up Lawrence Stroll merely came along and B-Slapped everyone raising the bar for the future. It's gotta tick some people off awful not the least Nicolas Latiffi who's family is trying the same stunt but just got beat out by more cash horsepower. Money has always been a part of the sport and for those who think Senna and Prost are as far back as the sport goes should read up on Peter Revson who, despite his success, was never taken seriously by the establishment because he brought a sack of cash to facilitate his racing. Here is a great article on the subject: Stroll's Revson predicament | Motor Sport Magazine
I used Mazda as simply an example of what Williams need, a major manufacturer to step up and fund them. They will never beat Mercedes with Mercedes engines so they are at best 3rd and 4th ... would you want to start a race knowing you can only finish 3rd? Ron Dennis did the right thing with the Honda partnership for McLaren, he positioned the team for winning. Unfortunately Honda have made a mess of it, but it was still a good decision back when it was made, unlike the "lets putter around midfield looking average and lost" like Williams. Only midfield also ran teams run customer engines ... RB being the only exception, but once Renault get their car sorted things will change. It is not like it was in the Cosworth DFV days. The Merc engine in the Williams will be multitudes of ways down on power, etc. compared to the factory one, even if physically identical ... thanks to the computer power required to run them. Pete
Yes I do agree, also on the Mclaren-Honda part. If and when engines are simplified it'll be the right time for Williams to get a manufacturer behind them again. I've fond memories of Williams-BMW so I hope that partnership can be found again...especially if F1 engines become cheaper to build/develop it might not be such a bad idea at all. Remember Austria 2014, Williams looked quick enough to win but didn't get authorization to run the Mercedes engine in the proper mode (that they where using themselves).