Yes, Lance Stroll did a remarkable job today, finishing 6th in the Singapore GP after a challenging race. His detractors should note that Lance finished ahead of 3 World Champions today. Verstappen, Vettel and Hamilton. Who can say now that he doesn't merit a seat in F1 ?
Lance let's the race dictate his outcome today. Lance doesn't let his race-craft dictate his outcome.....albeit through out the season....or his career in F1.
Let's be realistic here; he is certainly not a top gun, but Stroll deserves his seat more than some who have been through F1. Beside, he doesn't attract attention for the wrong reason, and keeps his nose clean.
Realistically, Lance currently has a seat in F1 because of his father.....thereby making him lucky and privileged to have a seat in F1. Lance doesn't have to fight for a seat in F1. Massa, Vettel and now Alonso are all F1 drivers whom are older than 35 years of age and have or will race against Lance. Massa even retired and came back to race against Lance. Aside from all these drivers to include Perez and possibly Ocon, Lance has only beat 1 team-mate and that's Sirotkin....that's it. Lance will forever remain at Aston until daddy leaves.....Lance will never move up to the top teams.
Very true, but Lance still gets some results. He is far more deserving than Mazepin, Kvyat, or Giovinazzi were, IMO.
I'm always so confused whenever it's a wet race and you watch stroll drive/get a result. It doesn't make any sense. Maybe if all tracks where deliberately wet he'd be a superstar...lol
Turkey 2020 was wet and Lance was leading most of the race......until he switched tires and couldn't get heat in them and pretty much lost the race.
Lance kept his nose clean while many other greats (including Verstappen and Hamilton) made major blunders. He seems to be doing better under tricky conditions. Remember his pole in Turkey? They say the true greats drive the best in wet conditions. Not that I consider truly great but sometimes I wonder how he would do if he sat in a better car?
OK, sure, he gets credit for what he has accomplished, and sure, yeah, ok, he beat 4 world champs today (HAM, VET, ALO, VER), but then again, he also got beat by 5 non-world champs, and all of them beat 4 world champs too.
I don't understand the level of vitriol on this thread. Lance may have started as a pay driver and in fact may still have his seat as a pay driver but he has proven to be a very competent Formula 1 racer. He never brings discredit to the sport, he is always a polite and thoughtful interviewee and he is not a hazard to other drivers. I'd rather have him in a seat than Tsunoda or Schumacher or Ricciardo. I have changed my opinion of him 180 degrees and I'm glad he is on the grid.
I won't miss Latifi once he's gone. He's in over his head. Tsunoda seems to be hit or miss. Good and bad days. Lance is definitely good enough to be in the field.
Lance has proven a lot of people wrong and is certainly a strong mid-field driver who could be a race winner in the correct circumstances (ie. Bottas). No he is not a World Champion in the making but F1 has lots of drivers who fit that bill in one capacity or another and are very much welcome in the sport. Harping on calling him a rich kid who is only there because of his parents money is an old tune and hypocritical to most of the field.
I couldn't agree more. I wonder what the detractors expect from someone born in a family with privileges. Give it all away ?
I don't think there is one person on this thread who wouldn't love to exchange places with Lance, at least for a little while. I know I would. Dad is making it possible for his son to live the dream and unlike Mazespin he actually has some talent. I'm a fan and I wasn't three years ago. I'd like to see him get another podium and it will be really interesting to see how he does next year with Alonzo.
Alonso will NOT "nurse" this privileged F1 kid. Alonso will wipe the floor with him. Another rinse-repeat of an "old" F1 multi WDC title holder showing Lance some race-craft and beating Lance in the points.
I think Vettel has made Lance a better driver. I'm a fan of Alonso's driving as well. Not so much as a person.
Indeed on Alonso. His race-craft on the track is still there. His character/personality/charisma within a team......not so much. He's burned bridges.
I think Lance will do better against Alonso than many predict. That said we are talking about Alonso today not the Alonso of 15 years ago. For all of his talent father time has had his way with the Spaniard and Alonso no longer has the raw speed of his youth. His racecraft however is superb and Lance will learn a lot.
I'm sure he will learn a lot, agreed. It'll be interesting to see how well he does against Alonso. Vettel didn't wipe the floor with Lance as many predicted. Alonso will likely be better but I wonder how long Alonso will be a team player when things go sour: I expect the AM to be once again a very mediocre car, much worse than the Alpine and Alonso is not somebody who will hold back.
