A veteran driver (who had suffered a traumatic brain injury) at the end of his career vs. a teenager with thousands of F1 test miles at many of the current race venues. Lance didn't have the racecraft but should have matched Massa on speed.
It doesn't matter if he's a rookie, if he's any good he'll be up to speed...there is no excuse for a rookie to be 1s per lap slower, unless he's a very limited driver, wich is Stroll's case.
All would be cool if Father and son weren’t such dicks . How they chose to spend their money is their prerogative , but their attitude sucks . Papa Stroll had nonissue kicking people off the track at Tremblant knowing fully well some of the guys had travelled 8 to 10 hours to get there and paid for the track day , he just didn’t care and showed no respect whatsoever. The arrogance has carried over to Lance and he is not a very likeable person , money does not make the individual. He deserves all the flack he is getting, not because his family is rich but because there is an inherent lack of respect towards others .
How people are perceived is a different matter. The point raised was if Lance Stroll deserves a place in F1 or not. I cannot see anything in the rules preventing him to be there. F1 should probably re-examine its criteria for delivering Superlicenses, raise the minimum age or create a probation system of some sort. Many people welcomed the arrival of teenagers in F1 in recent years, and I don't think that was a good thing, personally. Some newcomers end up good, some not so good; there is a huge step between F2 and F1, and some even by-pass F2 altogether. Plus, it's not only a matter of speed, but of maturity.
If we just take the recent drivers, not a bad list really? Lance Stroll not a great driver but hasn't got a habit of crashing. Verstappen, great Lando, looks great so far Kvyat, good Alguersuari, quick Image Unavailable, Please Login
Alguersuari was sacked by Toro Rosso and gave up racing, becoming a FE commentator on Channel 4 for a while. Mike Thackwell who was very good in F2 at the time, gave up racing and went into ... teaching. Ricardo Rodriguez was killed in practice at the Mexican GP, a year after his first drive in F1. Estéban Truero vanished ftom the radar, as far as I know. Chris Amon drove for Ferrari, Matra and Ensign, never winning a GP.
Recent was mentioned (by you), hence me not including even Alonso in the above. Alguarsuari, did he set the world alight? No. Did he look inept? Absolutely not. He was a journey man but looked more competent behind the wheel than some older drivers with a better junior career.
Completely agree with you, arrogant is the polite word for them. Would love to have met him when we were doing racing/track days at Tremblant in our "youth". You could certainly do things differently back then!!!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw-Ha_xDUPB/ In other news, Jos Verstappen just had another child. Wonder if Mercedes has taken an option on his contract?
Most. i.e. not all. And the discussion was young (teen) drivers not being good enough...Alguersuari not good enough? He held his own. Not an all out superstar but was easily a mid pack driver.
They didn't see him going anywhere so new blood came in. The fact that he was fired is kinda irrelevant imo. People not wanting teenagers in F1 can surely only have to do with either lack of talent/racecraft or to be crash prone. I don't think Alguersuari fits that description,
Who is the mother? I thought he was separated from Max' mom? If so, this kid doesn't need a contract. It only works with Max' mom in the game.
Teenagers are not mature enough to be in F1, which requires a lot more than driving fast. There are other aspects for which they are not prepared, like contacts with mechanics, engineers, PR appearances, dealing with the media, etc .... Often they are the product of pushy parents who project their own ambition on their kids. Like in some other sports, education is often sacrificed to achieve results early on; kids of 12 or 13 already winning championships, etc ... Psychologically, a lot of Young people are affected by entering too early in intense competition, and F1 is surely that.
Well he is in F1 and there is nothing we can do to change that fact . Does he deserve it is tough to answer , he bought his way in , he isn’t the first and won’t be the last . Life isn’t black and white , who you know is much more important that what you know . Over the years there have been plenty of drivers who deserved to be in F1 who never made it , call it politics or lack of finance or both . Nobody said it is fair and it never has been but then again life isn’t fair . What I was getting at is that had lance or his dad showed a tad of humility instead of acting like condescending pricks , we could cut him some slack . That being said , he hasn’t made a total boob out of himself even though he has been unspectacular and I have seen worse . At best , he could end up being a mid fielder as in my opinion he is not a racer at heart , just a spoiled kid .
As a rule the apple does not fall far from the tree , papa stroll thinks he walks on water and truth is he is very successful and good at what he does . Too bad he is such a prick , a reality check wouldn’t hurt . Lance acts so entitled it is hard to root for him . There is nothing wrong being a person of privilege , use it positively and be kind . F1 is not any different than any team sport , you cannot do it on your own , you have to treat your guys well and take care of them and in return they will go the extra mile for you .
My master plan to end Mercedes dominance in 18 years time appears to have a hole in it. Age has nothing to do with anything like that. Max has been praised by anyone working with him for working so incredibly well with mechanics. His racing has been great, a few incidents but no more than the norm. Kvyat showed none of those issues in his first year. And so on. We have guys that are late 30s and still a PR disaster, or within the team even (see one F Alonso). Hamilton, a 5x champion, still throws his team under the bus publicly whenever he's not leading. A ******** excuse, sorry.
Yes, I get all that about the Strolls attitude, etc ... But that doesn't solve the problem of what to do with a driver like Lance who qualifies for a Superlicense according to FIA rules, buys himself a seat in F1 and doesn't perform very well. People may not like him, but there is not much that can be done to remove him from the grid. Usually the team or the sponsors make the decision to get rid of such a driver, but in the case of Stroll, one cannot expect his father to throw him out! Lance Stroll will probably stay in F1 for a while as the driver everyone loves to hate ...
