How many teams will Stroll have to ruin before he understands his son is not that good?
Absolutely. I can't shake the feeling that some folks on here are just plain envious of the rich kid. Heck, if my dad had bought me a seat in a team, I would have taken it. And I have no talent, so what.
Hmm.. i think Papa is quite a successful business man, he is looking towards 2020 onwards with a more even share out from Liberty.He might even make some money out of the whole deal. Yeh of course his son is a factor in the investment, but the guy is nobody's fool for sure.
If the team name was the deciding critical factor in whether you wanted to continue working at a racing team, it would be your focus and commitment that should be questioned...
You think Stroll will keep financing the team if his son keeps sucking? Changing from one generic name to another might just show he’s getting his exit strategy ready.
With that argument you could put yourself to sleep if you were a F1 sponsor: Plenty of mediocre drivers filling the field. Somebody has to act as cannon fodder. There are only three spots on a podium.
Hehehe, or Lance is Pointless Racing Sergio will at least have the season not having to battle, or being hit, by his teammate..... lance won’t see him till the end of each race when he parks up dead last again..... his dad has more money than sense, if he was my son, I’d have fired the donut a long time ago and hired anyone else, even Hartley!
Yes, I think he would keep financing the team - he and his multiple investor partners who are no relation to Lance have invested in the F1 team with the aim to create their own F1 experience and legacy, and even turn a profit. Certainly Lance is a factor, but he could heasily have just kept paying Williams or Sauber or McLaren or other back marker for a seat if he just wanted to get Lance a drive in F1. As for the name changes - they are partly legal to satisfy FIA requirements and corporate entity requirements in the UK, and further - why on earth would anyone keep 'India' in the name of a team for a long term that now has zero connection to that country? They could change it to 'Force Canada' if they wanted to keep 'Force' and a country related to the ownership or sponsorship, but there again you have a name change. Lawrence doesn't own Mont Tremblant race track in Quebec as a plaything for Lance; he doesn't own a collection of classic cars, including the Daytona-winning 330P4 and a 250GTO, as playthings for Lance; he isn't into all things related to automobile racing just to entertain Lance, they are his own genuine interest. In fact, it's quite likely that Lance is involved in auto racing because his father pushed him, rather than his father indulging the whims of the child.
Disagree, I think that soon after his son gets bored with F1 he’ll try to sell the team. I think it’s cheaper for him to have a team and try to get some sponsors than paying another team, especially when his son sucks. I think that changing to Racing Point and now to yet another undisclosed name shows this was never meant to be a long term plan. I think his co-investors/friends have put up little more than their names to make it look more of a credible offer. Not sure what his race-tracks or classic cars have to do with it. Of course he likes cars and racing but I think Racing Point will be the next team for sale on the grid. Guess we’ll see
So what is up with the money disbursement from the constructors points fund, does Racing Point receive a payout based on cumulative points scored by RP and FI or just by RP? I know that Team Haas was pissed about it.
I can't imagine that is true, since he could buy a seat for $10mm dollars or so, but the racing team budget will be 6 or 7 times that at a minimum, and as McLaren and Williams show, big title sponsors are not easy to find. Or it shows that it IS a long term plan. The first name change, that brought in 'Racing Point' in conjunction with Force India, was necessary for the summer takeover, where as a different corporate entity a name change was absolutely required, but it needed to keep an association with 'Force India' for chassis name and entrant requirements from the FIA. The second name change was to ditch 'Force India' as soon as they possibly could at the end of the season. The next name change will be to incorporate the marketing needs of a new sponsor or actual appealing team name. Do you think Red Bull is quitting F1 any time soon? Look at how often they have changed their official entry name - EVERY YEAR for the last three or four years!! Between Infiniti, TAG, Aston Martin... by your logic, that must mean they have no long term plan and will be sold by February? HAAS just changed their name - did you even notice? It happens all the time in F1, and is not a big deal by any means. I think you're grasping at straws to suggest that someone would put up their name to lend credibility, when the names have no credibility on their own in the F1 world - only the dollars have credibility. Quick, without Google, name at least two of the other investors involved in Racing Point. Couldn't do it, could you? That shows that the names have no value or credibility. The race tracks and classic cars show that Lawrence has long been interested in F1 and motor sports without being linked to Lance driving in F1. Here's a good example - you will recall that the Tommy Hilfiger brand was a long time sponsor of Ferrari beginning in 1998, and is now sponsoring Mercedes AMG F1 (by the way, that entry name changed recently also) - now recall that Lawrence owned Hilfiger since before 1998, so about when Lance was born Lawrence was already involved in F1 via corporate sponsorship and advertising. It all proves that Lawrence has been involved in F1 for over 20 years for his own personal and corporate interests, not Lance's, and evolving that to become involved in team ownership (like Benetton did in the 80s/90s) is not tied exclusively to Lance.
I think you may be right about the long term planning of Lawrence Stroll regarding the aquisition of Force India. I am sure this goes well beyond Lance coming into F1. Stroll Sr holds plenty of potential sponsorship, himself or through his associates; He will probably use Point Racing as an advertising Platform in the future, just like Dieter Mateschitz did by buying Jaguar to make it Red Bull Racing, or Benetton when they bought Toleman. Gene Haas chose to advertise his tool automation business by creating his own team. We may enter an era where teams are owned by sponsors and constructors only, and see the end of independent teams. Up to a point, one could say that even the Scuderia Ferrari is controlled by a sponsor now (Philip Morris);
As I said, we’ll see. A lot will hinge on how conpetitive the new cars will be and don’t know why but don’t have much confidence. Even if they built some pretty decent cars up to now with a very small budget.
The 2019 cars are done already by the "old guard." Teams usually start their F1 cars at the beginning of the year--->2018. Lawrence, and consortium, want to develop a facility (wind tunnel, engineering, CFD, etc) to get the 2020 car ready. It will probably be 2020 till we see Strolls and consortiums money have an effect on RP Force India. I don't know the where-abouts of this facility.
Beyond 2020. Unless they can keep the spirit alive of the original FI with small budget and big impact, they are not going to produce much in terms of results early on. They are starting at zero in my opinion. One bad aero package and they are a Williams. The Mercedes engine cannot do it all. Just ask Paddy.
