Lance Stroll, Williams, Hockenheimring, 2018

Stroll “on standby” for Force India chance

2018 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll says he is “on standby” for a possible switch to Force India ahead of the next race at Monza.

Asked following yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix when he expects to be a Force India driver, Stroll said “Yeah I’m on standby at the moment

“Right now I’m going into Monza the same mentality as always. I assume to be driving for Williams.”

Stroll, who made his Formula 1 debut with Williams last year, is expected to visit the Force India factory tomorrow for a seat fitting. Force India was bought by a consortium of businessmen including Stroll’s father Lawrence earlier this month.

Asked by RaceFans on Saturday whether he expects to get a chance at the team, Stroll said: “We’ll see what Lawrence wants to do.”

On Friday new Force India team principal Otmar Szafnauer said they intend to stick with drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon “for the short term”.

“What happens thereafter, it’s not impossible to change that’s for sure, but a lot of agreements would have to happen. So I don’t know, it’s hard for me to predict that in the future.”

RaceFans understands Perez has already signed to remain at Force India in 2019.

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105 comments on “Stroll “on standby” for Force India chance”

  1. Yesterday showed that that car is seriously good at certain high speed circuits. Stroll in the Force India for Monza will be casting pearls before swine

    1. Agree, the worst driver on the grid take away the seat from a competent driver.
      When shall F1 chose the best drivers and not junior team or pay drivers.
      So many drivers around who don’t belong to any team and have not the money.

      1. He is the youngest podium sitter, don’t know how him being the worst driver on the grid was possible.

        1. Probably because you have forgotten that race, otherwise you would know he has only marginal merit for this podium, other than not crash.

        2. No he is not:

          1 Max Verstappen, 2016 Spanish Grand Prix – 18 years 228 days
          2 Lance Stroll, 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 18 years 239 days

    2. @hahostolze That’s the best bible quote we’ve had on the site for a while. Kudos!

      1. @keithcollantine Haha, well, I need the bible’s heft to accurately vent my frustration at what is happening with Ocon/Vandoorne/other more talented riders because of Stroll

        1. on the other hand, there might not be two seats at Force India without daddy Stroll.

      2. Well the real Force India did choose talent over money and fell into financial crisis. So I am not surprised.
        A lot can be said about a sport where a team coming 4 receives less prize money than one finishing 8 or 9.

    3. @hahostolze

      It will be tough for us fans to digest the fact that Lance will be replacing Esteban at RPFI (if at all).
      But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The deal (sale) has still not been clarified in terms of the legality. As it was pointed out by Uralkali, it is an asset purchase and not as a going concern. And i guess as a new team , they will have to wait for two (?) years to qualify for the constructor benefits. With a thin budget, the team might slip backwards in 2019-2020. Maybe Ocon is better off leaving RPFI. Toto will probably look to loan him out to (say) STR for a year just to keep him in F1. By that time, either Sirotkin or Kubica shall make way.
      I agree its not ideal, but as other have pointed out, a dad wants his son driving a very good car. There is no use blaming the dad, blame the way the sport works. Sad part–we can only comment on it.

      1. @webtel – The teams already agreed to let RPFI keep the prize money. That’s why Haas was complaining about the whole process and asking for some more answers from the FIA, because when they entered the sport as a new team they didn’t get any part of the prize money until this year (their third in the sport).

        1. @toiago

          The teams already agreed to let RPFI keep the prize money.

          Yes. i am aware of this. But i was under the impression that the consent is only applicable to this year. Isnt it so ?
          Anyway, the prospect of good funding looks very bleak. Perez’s sponsors (and himself) will perhaps hesitate to pump in more in such uncertain times.

        2. @toiago those are the terms Haas entered on. The FIA have said there is no legal precedent for what happened to FI, so effectively had to work it out within the existing regulations.

          That they forfeited all of the prior entries points, paid a whopping late entry fee and allowed the drivers to keep their points provided they also kept their component allocations should show this.

          Gene Haas complaining about the process is a bit rich, given he used the regulations to essentially buy almost half of a competitive car.

    4. Will happen when a boar buys the jewellery shop.

    5. Stroll is not the next Schumacher for sure but a bum he’s not.

  2. part of me wants to see this so we can have a definitive judgement on Stroll sooner than later…. and lets face it, daddy didnt buy FI to leave the boy at williams

    1. What good does the definitive judgement do, when that judgement won’t influence at all his future in F1. Hell, all of F1 can be unanimous that he is the worst driver in the history of F1 (which he isn’t), but he may well break Barrichello’s record.

      1. @hahostolze
        Well I think a definitive judgement of his abilities would actually make a difference to his future.
        If it becomes clear he is not competitive at all then his father becomes under pressure instantly. It is hard to justify the team spending millions of euros for tenths of a second of lap time only for it to be squandered by a poor driver. Remember the team was bought by a consortium (led by Lawrence) but still a consortium.

        1. Yes, it’s a consortium. But this weekend when it was explained who the consortium were, all the others involved are business partners of and/or dependent on Lawrence Stroll. You think they will risk alienating him by pushing out his son? I think it’s the price of doing business with Lawrence that you have to accept that he will always want Lance. But we will see, you may be right.

      2. as @hahostolze writes, he isn’t the worst in history, probably not even close. and we shouldn’t forget that he kind of earned his seat in a f1 car, didn’t he?

        in his first f3 season, he beat george russell, british promise, on points, and wasn’t too far behind wunderkind leclerc in the standings (2015), and in 2016, at age 18, he won the title.

        a f3 european champion is not absurd in a f1 car.

        1. Yes he won the F3 championship, but how he got it wasn’t particularly ‘un-funky’, let alone the enormous amount of extra private track time daddy bought him during all season. None of the other drivers had that luxury, and i can tell you it makes all difference. After that, prior to his own F1 debut, he got more private tracktime in an old Williams than all the regular F1 drivers had during all season.

          1. if it makes him a better driver, i guess it’s fine within the rules.

            i would be much more outraged if he didn’t know what he was doing, and he has shown us a few times that he can be pretty good.

            in the current field, he is down there, no doubt. but in total, i would say the quality of f1 drivers now is much better than in the 80s or even 90s.

        2. @magon4 That is right. When I started watching F1 more than 20 years ago, Pedro Diniz, a pay driver, was at the same team as Damon Hill, the reigning world champion. And Diniz’s pre-F1 racing record was nowhere near as good as Stroll’s. The same can be said about several other ‘drivers with budget’ in the recent (and less recent) F1 history. For sure, Lawrence Stroll’s wealth has opened Lance some doors and if F1 was a meritocracy (it has never been), then the current list F1 of drivers would look different and maybe Stroll’s name would not be on it.

          Also, it is not like Stroll is just hanging around the paddock and having fun. He is working as hard as the other drivers to achieve more. It is not his fault that the financial support he gets from his father is one of his strengths.

        3. F3 isn’t a spec series in reality even though it generally is in practice. Stroll spent millions on developing his car and had the Williams simulator converted to F3 duty specifically for him, and that’s before mentioning that he had the budget to spend the year flying around for private tests at all of the venues. He didn’t win F3 on merit. He won it on money, just like with his current and future seat.

    2. True, Lawrence didn’t buy FI except to give Lance a decent car to drive in. However, Lawrence isn’t the only shareholder, so while Lance could well be going to the Force India factory for a seat fitting, that doesn’t mean he’s got a full time seat just yet. Lawrence will have to buy Lance out of his contract with Williams, or leave him there until the end of the season.
      From the way Otmar is speaking it seems Lawrence doesn’t have the votes to get Lance a full time position at Force India.

      1. @drycrust The people involved in the consortium are close associates of Stroll or minority partners.

        Otmar’s words are deliberately grey to prevent causing trouble, but I’d be surprised if there aren’t performance clauses in Lance’s contract, given the money he was spending.

      2. You think the other share holders were in the market to buy an F1 team. A lot of arm twisting was involved so it doesn’t just look like a one man show.
        Otmar can’t do anything lest he be shown the door also. Besides he’s already singing sweet Lance music anyway.

  3. He has the audacity to try sitting in 1 of the Force India seats after yesterday when Sirotkin beat him to the line & that even with a damaged car.

  4. With daddy buying Force India, Stroll is basically guaranteed a seat in F1 for as long as he wants. It wouldn’t surprise me if he broke the record for most races in F1. It’s such a shame that we will be forced to watch mediocrity (at best) taking up a very desirable seat for the next 10 years at least.

    1. @mashiat Stroll would not be the first gazillionaire to figure out that f1 is actually quite costly…

    2. Daddy didn’t buy Force India yet. It was sold illegally. Administration had to sell it on auction, but sold it privately with personal interests. So the story is far from being over. Team’s future will be decided in court.

      1. Not true. Going into administration is something very different than bankruptcy. Only in case of bankruptcy you end up at auction. In case of administration, they just try and find a money source of sell it to a suitable buyer. In this case mister Stroll. It’s a legitimate buy, and mister Mazepin should stop wining.

        1. That’s an important h you miss 🤗

        2. The administrators have a responsibility or at least an exposure to all the creditors. That the erstwhile owners of the team number themselves among the creditors pretty much guarantees this ‘sale’ will be challenged if Mazepin is seriously offering a better deal.

    3. There are three possible scenario’s
      1) Stroll becomes a mediocre or good driver and sort of earns his spot.
      2) Stroll remains a poor driver and is paired with another poor driver to save his face. This would cause massive demotivation within the team and an exodus of all the engineering talent, leading to FI becoming a permanent backmarker.
      3) Stroll remains a poor driver and is paired with a decent driver. There’s no way he can suffer humiliation for year after year, so this situation couldn’t last.

      There is no possibility however of a poorly performing Lance Stroll keeping a desirable seat in F1 for years and years.

  5. That swine started on the front row in Monza last year. In a Williams.
    Just ahead of Esteban Ocon in his Force India…

    1. (this was meant to be a reaction to the first post of @hahostolze)

    2. He did, but that’s indicative of nothing. A facile argument. ‘He started ahead of him that one time’.

      1. jamesluke2488
        27th August 2018, 9:13

        That one time in a slower car, which in the 2 years he has been in F1 has been considerably sĺower than the Force India, give the guy a break, he has done more than Stoffel a better comparison

        1. Stoffel Vandoorne has more talent and ability in his pinkie

          1. he has to start showing it then. for all I see both can be shown the door and invite Ericsson on the way out

          2. invite Ericsson on the way out

            +1

        2. You’re saying someone who was 7 tenths slower than Massa has done more than someone who is 3 tenths slower than Alonso?

          1. I have to agree with you here.

    3. And that’s what’s so peculiar about Stroll. He had a couple of genuinely great performances last year: Monza qualifying and pretty much the whole weekend in Baku. But the rest of the time he was nowhere. There wasn’t even much sign of progress:

      https://www.racefans.net/2017/12/07/2017-f1-driver-rankings-17-stroll/

      1. He was 1 sec faster than Vettel in Monza qualif … that’s not really representative, is it? Only the result of a better strategy and good luck in a rainy Q3.

      2. I still fail to see the greatness in his Baku performance. He did outqualify Massa by a fraction of the blink of an eye, I’ll give him that. But in the race, he had to rely on the Safety Car resetting the gap to his team mate repeatedly, and from then on, his outstanding feat was keeping it out of the wall. Pace-wise, it was barely a top 10 performance in a car that would’ve been top 6 material on a normal day. Except that it was anything but a normal day.

      3. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
        27th August 2018, 11:00

        What about Mexico when he was P6 for most of and was quick and consistent?

        1. @felipemassadobrasil
          Basically Baku Part 2. Would’ve barely scored a point in an uneventful race, but P6 fell in his lap, as a lot of cars that would most likely have finished ahead of him hit trouble, and he had a lucky break with a VSC that came just after his main rivals had pitted. He wasn’t going to beat Massa in either race, but the fact that Massa had major car issues in both races makes Stroll’s races look a lot more impressive than they really were.

      4. top notch first comment on that thread

      5. Even in baku a better driver would have finished the race in second position. Not in third. Bottas overtook stroll in the last corner. Had stroll been just 0.1s faster through his last stint he would have been second.

    4. Then he should have probably gotten the pole. He’s that bad. Constantly underperforming. You’ve gotta wonder where Williams would be now with a competent driver.

  6. Would anyone consider it well deserved if Stroll made a mid-season move to RPFI when dad wouldn’t have bought the team? That’s a retorical question.

    1. We can get more basic……Would anyone consider Stroll an F1 driver without daddy’s money in the first place?

      1. I think he had shown enough in his junior career to merit a try.

        1. Junior categories are all about money. Karting especially is all about money. New tires, best engines, new chassis. Not many people can throw half a million into a 10 year old kid’s karting hobby per year.

          1. Not that this used to be completely different in the past. To get to F1, one always needs backers.

          2. It would be naive to think that the Stroll’s were the only ones throwing money at karting equipment etc etc. for their kids to go racing. A millionaire parent can find 300k as well as a billionaire parent can, and so when both their sons have all the engines and tires and trainers they can handle in a day, it still comes down to the drivers and what they do with the equipment.

          3. Doesn’t disprove my point @Robbie. In lower racing series money dominates. Millionaires and billionaires compete who can spend the most. Obviously the billionaire is going to come out on top when they move from karts to F4 and F3. What chance does that leave to the non-billionaires and non-millionaires? Nothing. It never comes to the talent of the driver when 90% of the field never has a chance because they don’t have those millions… 90% of the grid is already eliminated as they park their trailer on the parking lot. For them it is already an achievement to be there! The rich kids come to the races prepared and rested whereas the poor kids and their parents come there already tired because of the endless money and sponsorhip collecting…

            Has it always been like this? Money has always played a role but karting also used to be dirty. I don’t mean politics. I mean the actual mechanical side of it. The 2 stroke smoke gets everywhere, the parents did not have motorhomes and huge trailers and because using computers and race mechanics to set up the cars was not done it meant there was not much money could do during or before the races. It was not a glamorous place to be on the pits of a karting event. Money could allow you to buy more new tires, always have fresh good engine from good source and a good chassis. But a parent could learn to take care of the engines and chassis and a skilled driver does not need many sets of tires to get up to speed. Not anymore.

        2. What, winning two minor local series that are uncompetitive then moving to what’s not a spec series? F3 isn’t GP3. Development’s allowed, but Stroll is the first person in the modern era to do so and they spent millions on it.

  7. Formula 1 has gone to hell. Disgusting.

    1. it kind of has always been like that, I guess.

      I would argue that Stroll is quite a lot better than many drivers on the grid in the 80s and 90s. The level has gone up, and the fact that he is struggling is also a testament to the relative high quality of drivers nowadays.

      1. Interesting point. All F1 drivers nowadays are fit, committed, well surrounded and prepared. Bar their own mistakes and circumstances beyond their own control, it makes one wonder what the net difference is between the best and the worst driver on the grid. A second? A tenth? Even lower maybe?

      2. Formula 1 often does not give young drivers a chance to prove themselves by never giving them a seat or keeping them in backmarkers or not giving them enough time in a midfield car to show what they can do. And sometimes we have these situations in which more talented drivers lose their seats earlier than the pay drivers on the grid. But I cannot remember another case of a top young talent getting a good midfield seat, proving how good he can be already and then getting his seat bought right from under him in the middle of a season by a driver who’d been regularly a second slower than his competent teammate.

  8. Hope he goes out in Q1.

  9. No pride.

    Letting Daddy buy your way into F1 and buy your way up the grid.

    The kid has to learn to stand on his own two feet.

    1. I would let my dad bought my way into F1. But of course I would make the opportunity count, I’m that good, a bit overweight, but still

    2. @anon Quite the ridiculous comment. So your Dad is a billionaire and he’s been hanging around F1 since before you are born. He also has an impressive car collection. Is obviously a car and a F1 fanatic. You’re his little son and as soon as you are able to express it you show your love for the cars and racing just like Dad. And the rest is history. Of course Dad is going to help his son nurture a love he has, especially if it is the same love he has himself. It started being about that, not about concerns that some people might castigate them for working hard, taking huge risks, and making a pile of money. I’m sure Lawrence Stroll takes great pride in what he has accomplished, including now being a part owner of an F1 team…likely a longtime dream come true for him.

      1. Is obviously a car and a F1 fanatic

        A Race fan, update yourself!

      2. @robbie All nice and fine but kicking a driver with a contract out the next race so his son can quit the Williams losers and get a shot at what… points? If this takes place, it’s a move that is devoid of class; a sign of impatience. That has no place in F1. The moment it’ll dawn on him that Lance doesn’t cut it, he’ll pull out as quick as he barged in.

        1. “But Daaaaaaaad, I want a faster car noooooooow!”

  10. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    27th August 2018, 11:03

    Unrelated Query
    What happened to Alex Lynn? I remember he was a Williams development driver and kept appearing on Sky. Then he dropped off the map

    1. He’s doing really poor in Formula E, so yeah he dropped off the map.

  11. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    27th August 2018, 11:09

    I support Williams and even I’m angry about this

  12. I seriously doubt we’ll see any driver movement until next year so it’s probably pointless weighing up the pros and cons.

    There are contracts in place for the current drivers and I imagine that the FI team has far greater priorities for the immediate future than whether or not to put Lance in one of the cars.

    Hopefully Ocon, Vandoorne and Ericsson are just focussing on maximising their results and ignoring all of this.

    Lance also needs to focus on beating his teammate to be able to actually consider that he might deserve a chance at a seat. Maybe, just maybe his Dad will surprise everyone and not dictate what team he should be in and leave it for the teams to decide if they want him.

    1. Lance also needs to focus on beating his teammate to be able to actually consider that he might deserve a chance at a seat.

      Well maybe that’s the exact reason a mid season swap will make sense from Stroll senior and junior, cause it seems he’s really struggling to beat his rookie teammate, and that will most likely only get worse.
      If instead he was racing against side a more senior driver like Perez, then he got a real valid excuse if he got beaten by his teammate. But getting beat by Sirotkin looks silly and like you are just lacking the talent (which, really is the case I guess).

      I bet if Stroll and Sirotkin both stayed at Williams for the remainder of 2018, Sirotkin would beat Stroll in at least 80% of the remaining races. But then again, is Lawrence Stroll willing to wait and take that chance?

      Because, if Stroll stays at Williams and indeed does get beaten by Sirotkin for the remainder of the season, surely a seat at FI isn’t an option, or at least let’s hope it’s not.

  13. Never have I despised a driver more in F1. That disgusting smug mug.

    1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
      27th August 2018, 21:09

      Wow, JV has been eclipsed! I didn’t even know that was possible!

  14. Hey! don’t go forgetting Bumpkin Cake’s awesome drive for 3rd just getting pipped at the post by Bottas last year

    1. Let’s see…. in that race, multiple safety cars meant everyone was bunched up together.
      Then, Verstappen had a mechanical failure, Vettel got a stop-go penalty for road rage, Hamilton had to box to fix his headrest, Raikkonen retired, Massa had a mechanical failure, the two Force Indias crashed each other out, Hulkenberg ended his race in the wall….. not to mention Bottas only ‘pipped’ him because he came from a lap down. His result is hardly a result of an awesome drive. More like half the grid fell apart in front of him.

  15. Not a smart business move for Daddy Stroll to change the driver line up now that team is on its way to more championship points. I say wait until 2019.

    1. If you think all of this is about business then you’ve got out all wrong. Lance was in the Ferrari academy. if he was that good, Ferrari would have him driving the Sauber. But that didn’t happen so he paid lots of money to drive for Williams. Was that in the hope that some day Ferrari or Mercedes will come calling and he’d earn the big bucks, eventually repaying all of the investment.
      Since that looks unlikely in the immediate future, why not buy a team and get him to drive in a team capable of scoring points regularly and the odd podium.
      Then we’ll all set how good he is. You know even attach the odd lathe or anvil to his team mates car and soon he’d be the lead driver.
      And dream some respectability.

  16. Oh man if he gets beaten by Perez next weekend I guess everyone will say its because he’s new to the team and to the car. And what if he gets blown away by more than half a second? Then I don’t know what to make of him.

    1. What happens if he doesn’t get blown away. Will people say he’s a decent driver or will they just say “well F1 isn’t about the driver, put any half decent driver in the best car and they’ll win.”

  17. How bad is this guy really? Is he bad but F1 driver standards or is he bad by “he shouldn’t be anywhere near F1” standards.

    If he’s just bad by F1 standards then maybe don’t get mad at him. Get mad at the F1 system that allows him to be there in the first place. If my dad could buy me a seat, I can’t honestly say that I’d turn it down just because I don’t deserve it.

  18. Stroll said: “We’ll see what Lawrence wants to do.”

    I know I’m missing the point here but does anyone else find it extremely odd for Lance to refer to his dad by his first name?

    1. Well, saying “Daddy”, “Dad” or “Papa” wouldn’t exactly look great…

    2. He was probably raised by the help. Saw Papa Stroll twice a year.

  19. I really, really don’t know why they’re looking at this for 2018.
    I mean, Stroll isn’t as good as Ocon or Perez (and, frankly, there’s no shame in this), and RPFI need pretty much every single point they can nab.

  20. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    27th August 2018, 17:00

    “We’ll see what Lawrence wants to do”, I agree with Kieth Campbell’s comment above. I find that extremely strange but then again, I tend to find Lance a bit out in left field most of the time.

  21. Good luck to him. He is goin to need it. Or a good bar of soap to get egg of his face. Hopefully he well not last long and daddy will F1 team to play with. U never knOw he may be good at it.

  22. Unlikely to happen but it would be iconic to see Kubica in Williams ahead of Stroll in RPFL in next couple of races.

  23. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    27th August 2018, 21:13

    I want Stroll to do well at Monza. Just to create some interest and to create a massive upset. Doubtless Stroll ragers will say the car has been changed.

    Ps I don’t like Stroll either. But please stop behaving like its the worst moment since Malaysia 2016. You will be vindicated on Sunday. Until he goes to Ferrari…

    1. @felipemassadobrasil

      the worst moment since Malaysia 2016

      Malaysia 2016? Was there anything particularly bad about that race? All I remember is Vettel crashing into Rosberg at the start, and Hamilton’s engine failure. But I fail to see anything that would make it relevant in the current situation. Please help me out, what are you referring to?

      1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
        28th August 2018, 18:39

        Oh, a lot of people got very angry on social media about Hamilton retiring. I was also very reluctant to mention Bianchi in this situation. Apologies for any confusion.

        1. @felipemassadobrasil
          Tbh, it makes even less sense now … A bunch of people get upset about something on social media? Sounds like a normal Tuesday afternoon. Some people get very upset about their favourite driver having an engine failure? Yeah, well. I mean. That’s a bit like throwing a tantrum on social media because it rains on your birthday, and you wanted to throw an outdoors party. It’s important to a few people, but its significance stops right there.
          I fail to see how this compares to the outrage about Stroll. The numbers of people getting upset may be similar, or even smaller than after Malaysia 2016, I don’t know and don’t care either. But I still fail to see how this compares. The outrage about Stroll is aimed at something that doesn’t simply happen and is fundamentally an element of the sport, it’s decrying a form of corruption, if you will, a blatant violation of the meritocratic ideals most fans of F1 share, based on a few individuals’ decisions.
          People can get upset as much as they want about an engine failure, that’s never going to make it unhappen. Or prevent another failure in the future, as that’s something Mercedes are probably trying to avoid anyway.
          Stroll’s case is the polar opposite of that.

          As for mentioning Bianchi: That makes even less sense. What does the poor fellow have to do with a race that took place over a year after he drew his last breath, and almost two years after he closed his eyes for the last time? His death was a depressing episode of modern F1, but as far as I can see, completely unrelated to the race you mentioned.

          1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
            29th August 2018, 13:16

            Sorry, I was making a vague comparison that was just as you said. It was a mere footnote in the comment that mostly was meant to talk about Stroll. It wasn’t meant to matter much. It was just a mountain out of a molehill.

  24. If you think all of this is about business then you’ve got out all wrong. Lance was in the Ferrari academy. if he was that good, Ferrari would have him driving the Sauber. But that didn’t happen so he paid lots of money to drive for Williams. Was that in the hope that some day Ferrari or Mercedes will come calling and he’d earn the big bucks, eventually repaying all of the investment.
    Since that looks unlikely in the immediate future, why not buy a team and get him to drive in a team capable of scoring points regularly and the odd podium.
    Then we’ll all set how good he is. You know even attach the odd lathe or anvil to his team mates car and soon he’d be the lead driver.
    And dream some respectability.

  25. This whole affair has turned me off of F1 in a way practically nothing else that has come before it has done. Drivers with sponsorship or parental financial support leveraging their way into F1 is one thing, but that same parental overseer purchasing an entire team to shoehorn his utterly incapable son into a more competitive car (and in doing so, ousting a far more talented driver out of said seat mid-season) is a new low for the sport. It’s incredibly unpalatable and embarrassing for this supposed ‘pinnacle of motorsport’, and sets a truly horrid precedent for the next generation of drivers. Sponsorship isn’t enough anymore–even tens of millions of pounds worth of it. If your daddy isn’t rich enough to buy a team for you, your seat will never be safe.

    1. Sorry, that second segment shouldn’t be italicised, but hey, no edit button.

    2. This whole affair has turned me off of F1 in a way practically nothing else that has come before it has done.

      I feel exactly the same.

  26. If stroll doesn’t go to force india, I’m only sorry for kubica, who really deserves to get back into f1.

    However, I don’t think stroll is THAT terrible, look at the 2017 season, he got a handful of points on several occasions in a car that wasn’t better than force india.

    I think with force india he can be an average driver, look at palmer 2017, his car wasn’t much worse than williams but he barely managed points all year long.

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