Not so fast: Think about the gentlemen drivers who brought their own F1 cars to races. They were team owners as well. Maybe that "team" only had one car but it was still privately owned. Back then the WCC wasn't established yet.
Maybe because of investors and sponsors? There is some big big money that gets thrown around with sponsoring F1 teams and investing in Aston Martin, etc. The team management and owners should have a fiduciary obligation to do what's best for the team. Lance is not a pay driver, he gets paid by AMR. Literally paid to drive around and underperform, make silly mistakes, and sometimes be a danger on track. Remember his crash with Alonso in Austin? He literally does nothing to improve the value of Aston Martin (brand or F1 team). I guess it should be mentioned that not one single other driver seems to like him or respect him. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone of them want him gone out of F1. Being the offspring of a rich dad shouldn't give you a free pass to do anything when you're actions affect others. If the rich kids get to do anything because of money, where do we draw the line? Should Lance be able to fly jets full of passengers just because he's rich, even though he's unqualified?
F1 is a business more than a sport. As long as the team gets cash and the sponsors get sales results, it doesn’t matter who is in the seat. there have been many unqualified paid drivers in F1. as long as Lance isn’t dangerous or reckless no one is going to kick him out of his seat.
Agreed. And in addition: Lance is not unqualified. He is an average mid field journey man driver as there were/are so many of them. If you want to go down to the level of unqualified: There is a seemingly endless list of of F1 has-beens whose records are WAY worse than Lance's. In fact he doesn't even show up on them. As it stands: Lance is still the 3rd most successful Canadian F1 driver of all times.
You want a stat ? I found one on the internet that may get you thinking. I didn't verify it, though ... Hulkenberg recently broke his duck by getting his first podium after ... 239 GPs ! Someone researched among the current grid how long it took for drivers to reach their first podium/ Here is the result: Sainz got his first podium after 101 GPs, for Ocon it was 66, for Russell 50, Gasly 46, Albon 30, Verstappen 24, Leclerc 23, Norris 22, Alonso 18, Piastri 16, Hadjar 14, Antonelli 10, Stroll only 3 beaten by Hamilton with 1 GP. Aren't you impressed ?
Not the least. He's doing just fine with the most Q1 exits in F1 history....and he keeps extending it weekend and week out.
Q1 exits are meaningless when it comes to points. He still has more points this season than his teammate who went on to Q2s and Q3s.
The difference is that Hulkenberg is respected by his peers and other team principals. Lance is respected by no one.
That's a weak argument. It's the same for several drivers in F1, don't you know? Family finance and powerful personal backers are the key to success for many.
Yes funny how Lando is not being called a 'rich kid' I suppose the rules are different if you are a consistent winner. The double standards are thick
I 100% agree about F1 being more a business than a sport. Everyone knows the old saying. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Any brand or manufacturer wants to be represented by a winner and by someone or an entity that is popular. This drives business and sales and revenue. Lance does not provide results, the team isn't winning, and he's incredibly unpopular. Again, he offers zero value to a business plan. Lance has in fact proved to be a danger on track from time to time. How many careless mistakes resulted in wrecks by his own poor driving? It's awful. AMR and formerly Racing Point are being carried on the backs by their lead driver. Perez, Vettel and Alonso. All of them are incredibly popular and all of them were able to deliver some results. If Lance Stroll literally brings nothing to the table and the team is in fact spending money to carry his career because daddy allows it. Then his presence is bad for business.
If Lance is average, that means he is in the middle 7 or so drivers on the grid and there would be 6 drivers worse than him. Who are they? 3rd best Canadian just shows how embarrassing Canada's presence is in top motorsports. Results are a bi-product of the cars driven. Lance has driven some decent cars. 2020 the copy-cat pink Mercedes was the 2nd best car most of the season. Lance got 2 podiums and a pole but still got beat by Perez 125 pts to 75 and finished 11th in the WDC. 2023 the Aston Martin was the 2nd best car for roughly the first 8 races. Alonso scored 6 podiums in that time and ended up beating Lance by 132 pts. 4th in the championship vs 10th. Average? I dont think so.
Read the last sentence of your post #7972. A billionaire's son driving in F1 for his father's team, after satisfying all the entry requirements. What is wrong with that ? The FIA doesn't seem to mind.
