Lance Stroll, Williams, Spa-Francorchamps, 2018

Stroll open to mid-season move from Williams amid RPFI rumours

2018 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll says he isn’t guaranteed to see out the current season with Williams amid rumours he could switch to Racing Point Force India.

A consortium headed by Stroll’s father has completed its takeover of Racing Point Force India. This has prompted rumours Stroll will leave Williams to join his father.

“Nothing’s guaranteed,” said Stroll when asked in today’s FIA press conference if he will complete the season with Williams. “But right now I’m really just focused on this weekend and I’m going to give it my all like I always do and we’ll see what the future holds.”

“I’m still wearing a Williams polo, we’ve got a race this weekend and I’m going to be 100 percent focused and committed on my job,” he added.

“On the other side, things have happened. [I’m] really pleased for my father. He saw a great financial opportunity with Force India.

“They’ve been struggling for a long time, he sees a lot of potential in the company and he’s a businessman. He’s passionate about cars, Formula One, always has been. He’s saved 400 jobs and he believes that he can build a very competitive and healthy company for the future so I’m happy for him.

“For the moment I’m here at Williams, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing in the future. We’ll see what my father decides to do with me. He’s a nice guy. I hope he’ll take me.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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40 comments on “Stroll open to mid-season move from Williams amid RPFI rumours”

  1. Did he manage to say all that with a straight face?

  2. We’ll see what my father decides to do with me.
    Wow.

    1. Hope he was smiling when he said that…

    2. I really hope Perez crushes him…….and I mean in an embarrassing way……

    3. Wow is right LOL!

  3. It’s not often that something provokes such a sense of distaste and revulsion that it makes me question why I bother being an F1 fan.

    This is one of those rare occasions.

    1. @neilosjames Exactly how I feel. I mean, it’s Lawrence’s team now, and he may really want to make something of it, which would certainly not involve employing his son as a driver. But if it really ends up just as means to advance Lance’s career, it is just sickening. I want to believe it is the former.

      1. Will the haters still hate Lance if he moves to RPFI and performs equally to his teammate?

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd August 2018, 22:32

      Totally agree. I could just about deal with a spoilt brat making a mockery of the sport of F1 but then he starts talking…. I’m not sure that I’ve ever encountered an individual who is less likable!

      I’ve thought “is it jealousy?” But no… I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the world as he does every other weekend. How could you face your mechanics after the race after you’ve let them down again? How do you face the other drivers who know that you are a fraud? I’d personally hate to be in that situation….

      1. Echoing the other thoughts here, in 50+ years of watching F1 I cannot remember seeing anything quite like this before. And, I wish I hadn’t seen it ever.

        I think I’m still grateful to Stroll the elder for the Force India rescue. Better than seeing a good team go by the wayside. But, listening to Stroll the younger as a byproduct of both the elder’s F1 investments gets more difficult to choke down every time the younger opens his mouth. The one thing he certainly has a knack for, not his driving, is making it impossible to like him at all.

        1. Same with me strange and not wanted move.

    3. “We’ll see what my father decides to do with me.”

      This comment alone by him is enough that if he gets moved to RPFI I’ll stop watching F1 and enough proof that F1 is no longer a sport.

      1. It’s tasteless, I agree but you have to admit the drama around this is enough to keep you interested. Stroll did well in lower classes, what if he wipes the floor with Perez?

        1. @ Darren
          And what if it starts raining from the earth to the sky?
          You know, there are limits to the benefit of doubt.

          1. Evaporation? Which is a pretty apt word to describe what’s happened to Stroll’s honour at this point- I had assumed daddy’s team would be his fallback but he would at least try to make it for himself first, but I guess daddy is pulling the ‘sponsorship’ and all of Lances options with it, which is pretty dark, honestly.

  4. “Really pleased for my father”. “Nice guy”.
    He has validated all of our previous “daddy’s boy” cynical comments in a moment.

  5. Duncan Snowden
    23rd August 2018, 22:06

    Heh. “RPFI”. Sounds like a firm of accountants.

    C’mon, guys. Silverstone. You know it makes sense.

  6. Imagine someone buying a soccer team and forcing the management to field their way out of their depth offspring. That’s all I have to say.

  7. RPFI isn’t that the tech used in phones for contactless payments?

  8. Mark in Florida
    24th August 2018, 1:57

    Well one way to think about it is that RPFI won’t have two pay drivers only one. If Lance can’t put on a decent showing against Perez it only makes him look bad not the team. Hopefully after this season they will change the name to something more imaginative than RPFI. Maybe Stroll Point F1 who knows. I think Vandoorne is vandoomed. Ocon is probably headed there in my opinion. Out of this whole mess I really want Kubica to get that seat that Lance will leave behind. But…… skill and talent doesn’t always decide who will get a seat in F1.

  9. I read this as Lance being unsure whether or not Williams will keep him as a driver for the rest of this year.

    I suspect Claire may well show him the door, particularly if there’s finance due that will not b paid because it’s been diverted to the new team.

    Could be that RK will be in the seat from this point on and Lance will have to sit in the garage at Racing Point and watch. No way he’ll get a drive there this year – they need to maximise points to get position no back.

    1. @dbradock It seems likely that if Stroll were to move the Williams contract has to be bought out, ie. they get the money regardless, but can now get Kubica in (not quite sure he is eager to, but if he refuses now, surely he will not get another opportunity).

  10. Just like Jordan, McLaren, Williams or even Ferrari, F1 team name should register to the legend behind it.
    So I hope they change the name in 2019 to “Stroll Racing Point”.

    1. There is already a German business called Point Racing: https://www.point-racing.de/

      And there is aleady a Racing Point in Brazil: https://www.racingpoint.com.br/

      Stroll Racing would have been fine.

      Are they stuck with their name now that they have chosen it or can they change it at the end of the season without losing points?

      1. How about “Stroll Point” with silent ‘s’?
        But I think they’ll stuck with RPFI until the end of the season to avoid being categorized as new entry…

      2. Is Pointless Racing still free?

  11. Sergey Martyn
    24th August 2018, 5:24

    RPFI – Rich Prat Father Intrusive

    1. Rich Prat Father included might be better

    2. Or Enkei RPF1 wheels?

  12. It would do the boy good if Daddy decided to put an actual driver in the seat but we all know that isn’t going to happen. So Veruca Stroll gets his race team. Let’s hope he turns into a blueberry sooner rather than later.

    Ugly, ugly business.

  13. Van RPFI really afford not to maximise their points haul though ?

  14. I don’t understand all the hate towards Lance at all, at the beginning he made a lot of mistakes and by now I think he hardly gets into any incidents although he’s at the back of the grid nowadays

    1. He still has a fantastic ability to delaminate tyres, spin by himself and get out qualified by his teammate while maintaining an aura of self entitlement.

      The hate is coming from the fact that he’s probably the poorest driver in F1 today, but instead of fighting to prove his place in the sport, he’s moving to a better team and risking the career of a more deserving driver.

      1. When I say poorest… I mean in terms of talent… not wealth.

  15. That beard, though.

    1. That face, though.

  16. When stroll finally quits his F1 career his father probably owns half of the grid!

    1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
      24th August 2018, 11:45

      Breaking:
      Lawrence Stroll has announced he will be buying Liberty Media for an estimated 10bn pounds. Lance Stroll has claimed is happy with the decision and cannot wait to take over the FIA in a few months. Meanwhile, Bernie is in tears of laughter in his motorhome.

      The sad thing is, that doesn’t seem unbelievable anymore.

      1. He doesn’t have them! He needs 4x the money he has to buy liberty for that price.

  17. There should be a rule that forbids team owners offspring from driving for their team

Comments are closed.