In the round-up: Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll defended his son’s performances as his team comes under attack from McLaren in the constructors championship.
In brief
Stroll “had nine retirements due to engine failures” – father
Aston Martin have fallen from second to fourth in the championship since the start of the season and are at risk of falling behind McLaren, who have slashed their lead in recent races. Stroll’s son Lance has contributed just 47 of their 230 points so far this season, but the team’s owner said fortune has gone against him.
“Lance started the year on the back foot with two broken wrists for the first half-dozen races, which was very challenging, but really did a heroic job – and he’s had an unfortunate amount of bad luck,” Stroll told Sky.
“He’s had nine retirements due to engine failures, or a rear-wing fail [at Suzuka]. Half of the races it hasn’t been anything to do with his own abilities, he has just had a lot of bad luck, sadly.”
F1 drivers join Netflix’s first live sports broadcast
Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon will participate in the first live sports broadcast by Netflix next month. The four F1 drivers will each team up with a professional golfer in The Netflix Cup which will take place on in Las Vegas on November 14th, four days before the series’ new race in the city.Netflix is billing the contest as a union between its two prominent sports documentaries, Drive to Survive and Full Swing.
Mercedes junior dedicates title to late van ‘t Hoff
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli dedicated his Formula Regional European Championship victory last weekend to Dilano van ‘t Hoff. The late MP Motorsport driver was killed in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps in July during the same ran in which Antonelli scored his first victory of the season.
“I want to dedicate this championship to Dilano, who unluckily passed away in Spa,” said Antonelli. “I think since then we are racing for him and this championship is also for him.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
"(What is he not keen on in F1?) The current wet tyres that we have don’t allow us to race because of how big the tyres are and the amount of water we are spraying out."
How F1 and ‘Drive to Survive’ show the changing way we watch sports (CNN)
'Now we have a whole genre of entertainment about sports that dives into all of the juicy stories that keep us watching — including series like ESPN’s 'The Last Dance' or Netflix’s 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive'. The draw is similar to that of reality television — addictive and endlessly bingeable, with a massive cast of characters to root for or hate.'
'It was a pretty typical weekend in Las Vegas, with Adele performing at Caesars Palace, U2 at the newly opened largest spherical structure in the world, NASCAR in town and the Raiders hosting the Patriots. An exhaustive set of entertainment options. With it came the traffic snarls — on foot or car — from every road closure, redirection or new fencing erected along the Las Vegas Strip as part of construction preparations for a Formula 1 race that is still a month away.'
Foster to stay with Andretti for 2024 Indy Nxt season (Racer)
'A serious battle is on the menu in next year’s Indy Nxt championship as Louis Foster has signed to stay with Andretti Global. The 2022 USF Pro 2000 champion had a breakout rookie year in Indy Nxt with six podiums, four poles and two wins, and with the Briton’s confirmation at Andretti, he and 2023's rookie of the year Nolan Siegel from HMD Motorsports — also returning for a second season – become instant favourites to vie for the title.'
Briscoe joins Vanwall for Bahrain finale (Sportscar365)
'Ryan Briscoe will join Vanwall Racing in place of Joao Paulo de Oliveira for the World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain. The Australian will turn his first racing laps behind the wheel of the number four Vanwall Vandervell 680 during the eight-hour race. Earlier in the year he was part of Glickenhaus Racing's line-up.'
My Job in F1: Ola - Aerodynamics (Mercedes via YouTube)
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From every angle. 📐⚡️ pic.twitter.com/i42nOd0upy
— NEOM McLaren FE (@McLarenFE) October 17, 2023
I'm spending a few days in Canada. Went to the race track in Montreal today to check how it looks like outside of Grand Prix weekends. Haven't been able to walk the track unfortunately due to majpr repaving works. #AMuS #F1 pic.twitter.com/uiPf8R0CDg
— Tobi Grüner 🏁 (@tgruener) October 17, 2023
Was not expecting to see this former #F1 team boss back in the headlines, nor quite so much of him…https://t.co/HHxOTByLvW
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) October 17, 2023
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Comment of the day
Should Williams keep Logan Sargeant in their driver line-up for next season? @Dot_com suspects the decision has already been made:
I can’t help but feel that Logan would have performed better, particularly in the last couple of months, if Williams had made their mind up and given him a contract for 2024. It would have been given him much more confidence, taken the pressure off, so he wouldn’t have been literally driving for his career every weekend. It’s a lot of pressure for a rookie.
I’m assuming that Williams will sign him for next year, mainly because there are not many other options out there and they don’t want their junior driver program to look ridiculous. They’re probably waiting for the US Grand Prix to make the announcement for maximum media coverage in the US market.
@Dot_com
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Jamiefranklinf1, Alex De Brito and Dan!
On this day in motorsport
- 25 years ago today Alex Zanardi scored his final CART IndyCar win, at Surfers Paradise in Australia
slowmo (@slowmo)
18th October 2023, 0:06
Of course he has Lawrence, same every year he’s driven also. At some point its not just bad luck.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th October 2023, 14:24
Maybe Lawrence should also specify that in those 9 races where he faced mechanical issues, which ones of them would he have scored points in anyways?
I don’t think his mechanical ‘bad luck’ has cost him more than 5 to 10 points this entire season. What about the remaining 100 points he should have gotten
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
18th October 2023, 0:16
Logan’s had some bad luck this year.
signed Logan’s dad
notagrumpyfan
18th October 2023, 7:34
On the back of the cheque he wrote.
Or, as per CotD, if only he had sent in that cheque earlier ;)
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
18th October 2023, 0:26
Yeah lawrence the bad luck is he’s not a very good driver.
TheBurritoSupremacy
18th October 2023, 0:48
Stroll back to F2.
Leroy (@g-funk)
18th October 2023, 0:48
Would Lawrence being making these same remarks about his under performing driver if it wasn’t his son? Of course not. He would have been replaced already. For a savvy businessman, he seems to be making a rookie mistake with bringing in family into the business.
Arthur Zakaryan (@arthurgd3)
18th October 2023, 1:08
Lawrence is a billionaire before he entered F1 and from what most people say, he primarily entered F1 to further Lance’s career and buying an F1 team where he has instated Lance pretty much as a permanent driver gives him the best chance of doing that.
You don’t have to look far down the paddock though to see what underperformance by a driver where their boss isn’t their dad gets you. Perez, depending on the time of day and what you choose to believe, is either getting ready to announce his retirement or is mounting a fresh start to 2024 and has the backing of RB or he is getting ready to be sacked by the end of the year if he loses 2nd place to Hamilton.
Lance of course in comparison has it good but even he and his dad knows there are limits to “bad luck” and underperformance especially when your teammate has the majority of the teams points and isn’t plagued by the voodoo you claim your car to be possessed by.
AlanD
18th October 2023, 16:30
Leroy, I don’t think bringing his son in can be seen as a mistake by a savvy businessman, because the only reason Stroll Senior is in F1 at all is to provide a drive for junior. It would be no surprise to me if Senior sells out all his interests in the team once Junior decides to do something else instead.
Leroy (@g-funk)
18th October 2023, 20:12
If he’s making large financial decisions based on his heart (to provide a drive for junior) rather than his head (make money for his investors, grow his brand reputation, etc.), that is not being business savvy.
Coventry Climax
18th October 2023, 2:21
Lawrence, these are Lances results so far:
R1 Q8 GP6
R2 Q6 GP Retired With Car Issues
R3 Q6 GP4
R4 Q9 SS9 SP8 GP7
R5 Q18 GP12
R6 Q14 GP Ret due to contact with Magnussen
R7 Q6 GP6
R8 Q13 GP9
R9 Q6 SS8 SP4 GP9
R10 Q12 GP14
R11 Q14 GP10
R12 Q10 SS14 SP11 GP9
R13 Q11 GP11
R14 Q20 GP16
R15 Q20 GPWD Due to crash in Q
R16 Q17 GP- Ret due to rear wing
R17 Q17 SS16 SP15 GP11
Where’s the nine retirements due to engine failure?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th October 2023, 3:54
Yes, I don’t understand, that seems factually incorrect.
And even performance wise, he was hardly ever competitive, really, even if it were true about the 9 engine failures, there would’ve been some good performances.
HAL
18th October 2023, 15:37
Exactly.
He did not retire 9 times due to technical issues, but he indeed had much more issues than Fernando, especially in the first part of the season. So to be fair, it didn’t help.
But it does not explains the very poor qualy and race pace, especially in the second part of the season.
I think Lance can do better than he is doing today, he’s clearly lost at the moment. But after that many seasons, he should be a veteran with proven speed, which he is not showing at all. He should really go to WEC or indycar.
Mooa42
18th October 2023, 4:46
Seems to be a correlation issue between their hot air machine and on track results.
Coventry Climax
18th October 2023, 17:10
+1
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th October 2023, 8:16
I didn’t know Mercedes was so unreliable strange that the other teams didn’t had the same problems…
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
18th October 2023, 9:02
Two of his best results were also quite fortunate. In Australia, he beached it in the gravel by himself on the second last restart, but was saved by red flag. Then in Baku he hit the concrete wall in much the same way as De Vries, but must have caught it at just the right angle not to damage his suspension. That could easily have been two dnfs and 18 less points. Not sure how many points he lost from his two (not 9) mechanical dnfs, but probably not many.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
18th October 2023, 11:34
Remember he was driving with both wrists broken throughout the first six races, according to Dr Stroll…
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
18th October 2023, 11:46
@bullfrog I would be willing to give him some leeway on that, as I’m sure he was still recovering for the first few races at least. But given that his 4 best results are in the first 7 races, it really doesn’t seem to have adversely affected him much, or at all. It’s not just that car development has gone away from Aston either, as he was also closer in pace to Alonso in those early races.
Harry (@harrydymond)
18th October 2023, 9:48
Thanks for posting this list. I did think “that doesn’t seem right/am I going mad?” when I read the “nine engine failures” quote. Is Lawrence referring to practice sessions also? Even then, I don’t recall nine engine failures, although admittedly I don’t follow practice sessions that closely. Perhaps he is counting engine performance degradation as a “failure”?
If Lance had any self-respect he’d quit F1 and move into a different racing category where he may get better results.
dot_com (@dot_com)
18th October 2023, 3:00
Thanks for COTD! Although I think Lawrence Stroll should take that honor for claiming his son has had 9 retirements through engine failure this season :-/
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th October 2023, 3:56
Ahah, yes, comment of the day in terms of humour, lawrence’s.
someone or something
18th October 2023, 12:11
I wonder if he’s even had 9 engine-related retirements in his entire career. And that’s generously moving the goalposts in two dimensions, because I’m fairly sure that engine failures are far too uncommon.
someone or something
18th October 2023, 12:35
P.S.:
I checked his career stats on wikipedia. Not perfect, but it shouldn’t be too far off the truth, either.
According to this, he’s had 21 career DNFs so far. Only in three (3) of these cases does the race classification mention the engine as cause of retirement. That’s 3 out of 140 races he’s been entered in, not 9 out of 17 races so far in 2023. That’s an exaggeration by a factor of almost 25.
For the sake of completeness, the other technical DNF’s were apparently due to brakes, punctures, vibrations, suspension, rear wing. Even if you generously count vibrations and brake issues (BBW?) as engine-related, it still falls short of 9. Over his entire career in F1!
The words “accident” and “collision”, on the other hand, are mentioned an awful lot.
MichaelN
18th October 2023, 14:50
Thanks for checking the numbers.
Such blatant untruths should be labelled, not merely presented as a quote.
Edvaldo
18th October 2023, 4:10
Now we know where Mike Krack gets his excuses from.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th October 2023, 7:04
Yes, then again a person with THAT surname is usually excused for thinking stroll is a great driver.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th October 2023, 6:12
He’s indeed had bad luck, so not everything is down to his general subpar performance, even if the majority.
So, the next Canadian GP will have an entire re-laid track surface.
I noticed a small Pirelli signage piece is still there.
I agree with the COTD (again) & while the upcoming US GP weekend is plausible for announcement, so is the LV GP.
Dex
18th October 2023, 8:08
“Half of the races it hasn’t been anything to do with his own abilities, he has just had a lot of bad luck, sadly.”
All right, all right… So what happened with the other half?
baasbas
18th October 2023, 8:29
Sky could have asked about his opinion on the FIA warning for junior.. It would have been on topic even. Shame they didn’t?
Dex
18th October 2023, 11:32
They don’t ask uncomfortable questions, or unwanted questions in general. They aren’t journalists, it’s just a an F1 promo and broadcasting channel. As well as their Beyond the grid pocast, where everything related to F1 is called brilliant, and everyone from F1 is the greatest person alive.
BamBoomBots
18th October 2023, 9:17
Personally, I would like to suffer this bad luck of being born to a billionaire father.
Zann (@zann)
18th October 2023, 10:53
did we really need that Tony Fernandes pic Keith? I mean, without a warning
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
18th October 2023, 11:35
Haha, better not be the start of a series.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
18th October 2023, 11:54
Honestly – how did Lawrence Stroll really think his comments would be taken?
Is he that insulated from the real world that he thinks “Yes – that will put the debate to rest”?
Matt (@hollidog)
18th October 2023, 12:36
Ah yes the horrible luck of being born to a billionaire, who bought you an F3 team, an F1 seat, then an F1 team.
Maybe the silver spoon fell out of Lance’s mouth and into the airbox, that’s why there were so many failures?
Coventery Climax
18th October 2023, 17:27
Ah, he lost the silver spoon! That explains why his facial expression resembles the ever dissatisfied and uninspiring one of his father.
W-K (@w-k)
18th October 2023, 15:46
One only has to look at history and Napoleon. Who, apparently asked when assessing officers, “I know he’s a good general, but is he lucky?”.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
18th October 2023, 22:37
If only LKYSNZ had got an entry, he could have joined them.