Sergio Perez, Force India, Albert Park, 2018

Williams and Force India on same level – Stroll

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In the round-up: Lance Stroll believe Williams and Force India are at the same level in performance at the beginning of 2018.

Stroll was asked if he felt Williams could compete with Force India:

I think we’re really on a level playing field like there’s nothing between us. It’s going to be one day us, one day them, depending on circuits, depending on development.

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Will the current iteration of Renault ever equal the championship-winning record of their predecessors?

For some reason, I really don’t foresee this iteration of Renault hitting the heights of 2005-2006.

Having said that, they have made massive progress since 2016 and maybe the new engine regs will favour them.

It’ll be interesting to see the relationship between the works team and Red Bull/McLaren in the coming years if Renault start to become competitive.
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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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38 comments on “Williams and Force India on same level – Stroll”

  1. Depends on the drivers also. They can make a difference between fighting McLaren and Renault and losing to Force India. I wonder what Alonso could have done in 2012 Williams, was that car really much worse than his Ferrari?

    1. Yes it was.
      But score 100 points and two or three podiums was possible.

      The same goes for sauber as Perez got 66 before signing with Mclaren. After that he wasnt taking it seriously anymore.

  2. The Renault loan is the best thing that could have happened for Sainz. He gets to avoid the curse most Red Bull juniors suffer from by being excellent drivers but unfortunate to not quite have the measure of the best driver in the Red Bull stable.

    He’s up against the very well regarded Hulkenberg, he has the prospect of some very respectable results, he gets to occupy the seat of a team who aren’t likely to want high turnover, and there’s the chance that if Ricciardo gets antsy he progresses to the big league.

  3. If I take the lift from floor 6 to floor 10, do I stay on the same level?

    1. Only if the lift is powered by Honda.

      1. Wow – winning.

    2. Depends if the lift has enough lifting capacity to lift you AND all your cash suit cases.

    3. Perhaps only the LCD inside the lift says ’10th Floor’ and may be the lift isn’t moving.
      Either way, you are stuck without knowing you are stuck.

  4. F1 will continue to be worth spending big bucks and employing big teams as long as it has a big audience. Quite simply, motorsport is advertising, and the value & price of any advertising depends on how many eyeballs it reaches. Want to decrease the budget and size of F1 teams? Just do something to drive away the audience!

    1. The big manufacturers will leave as soon as the next economic recessions begins.

  5. From the Force India Bahrain GP preview: “Melbourne was a clear indicator that the competitiveness of the grid has closed up in 2018.” – I disagree. I think the next couple of races will give a more representative indication of whether the competitiveness of the grid has indeed closed up or not.
    – Regarding COTD: Let’s wait and see whether Renault can indeed hit the heights of 2005-06 or not. I think it’s a bit too early to jump to definite conclusions on that front.

  6. Lance Stroll believes Williams and Force India are at the same level in performance at the beginning of 2018.

    Alarm bells ringing loud for Force India. Early in the season–so they can afford to hit the snooze button now. But if Lance can see them as equals (even if we do not take his opinion for granted), Force India may have a very long season ahead. Two fantastic drivers–all of us want to see them competing with Carlos/Hulk/Kevin/Romain and not Brendon, Lance or Pierre. After racking up consistent performances over the years, with very little to spend, am very curious to know how they have missed out on closing to gap to the leaders. Delayed upgrades didn’t help either (assuming they used it in Melbourne). Hope they put up a good show in Bahrain.

    1. Nitzo (@webtel)
      Agreed. Force India were always going to find this season trying. Apart from the rumour of not much money than usual, the fact that McLaren switched to Renault power was going to change the teams they compete with for regular points against. Never mind Renault works team. I am still a bit surprised they are that far off to be honest. Lets just hope its the first race, and they will bring updates in the next few races to improve their position. What ever though I don’t think they can hold on to 4th place this year. Unfortunately.

      1. @bonbonjai
        Your comment makes me wonder about the realistic possibility of Force India doing just about enough to stay ahead of struggling teams such as Renault, STR, Haas, Sauber and McHonda all these years. (This is just a theory)
        Agreed their performances were top notch, not too many reliability issues either. It just seems like other teams have caught up with the act and started going the extra distance to do better. Am not saying they looked good only because others looked bad. I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened.

        1. Nitzo (@webtel)
          Staying ahead of the other teams you mention they will do, but Hass looks fast. If they can develop that car over the season, it is doubtful if Force India will catch up with them.

  7. Stroll is saying that like he’s doing better than last season but if you look at the positions of the Force India’s of the race, they are in 11th and 12th. If you compare that to Australia last season, in 7th and 10th, Sroll hasn’t got better. Force India has got worse.

    1. F1 fun
      That’s not F1 speak is it. I would say the Force India car has still to unlock it potential.

  8. Grid girls- i say keep the grid girls but alao include male models too. That way it is not sexist, but still makes the pitwalk more attractive, form husband and wife. QED.

    1. The story is coming from Blick though, which has a bit of a reputation for putting sensationalism over accuracy (particularly when it comes to F1 stories).

      With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if Blick have, at best, exaggerated the story rather heavily, or at worst basically made the story up altogether – particularly because I am extremely willing to bet that the same figures who raged so furiously about the decision to get rid of grid girls will love to have a figure to demonise as “that bloody woman who ruined everything” and, no doubt, be spreading that story around in a way that will see hits on Blick’s website going up.

  9. I’m glad Stroll made that statement. Now let’s see how many races he finishes in front of the Force India drivers. Although, when he does finish behind them, I’m pretty sure the team will be to blame for not selecting his engine modes or teaching him how to drive.

  10. What about the proposal to have a qualifying race on Saturdays?

    1. Sorry Keith, I’ll have another go.
      JC
      Don’t you get me started on that this morning.

  11. Well Lance, Williams are one of the main reasons Force India will be struggling this year, vetoing the prize money advance FI proposed. Although typical for F1, these kinds of moves are basically destroying what this sport once was. Because in my mind this is the definitive proof that there is no future left for ‘privateer’ teams. No team can raise the required sponsorship money to be (and stay) competitive, without the help of a major manufacturer or a billionaire with an ambitious son.

    1. Even then, as you can see, they might still struggle, look at williams. However, I don’t really buy that they’re equal to force india, force india has 2 massa level drivers, williams has a driver several tenths slower than massa, even if he improved and the other much slower than him, so I think williams car should be better.

  12. wibble green-tea
    3rd April 2018, 10:16

    It is more clear that Williams mercedes would have been challenging Haas/Renault/McLaren with Massa behind the wheel. How bad must the finances be getting to put two lame ducks in the race seats?

    1. How So?

      There’s nothing to indicate that the Williams car is less of a dog than last year’s.

      I think secretly Massa was happy to leave as the lack of decent car was making him look far worse that he deserved after a distinguished career.

      1. @dbradock, as other posters here are demonstrating with their rather bitter ranting, it’s clear that they would prefer to throw abuse at the drivers for the crime of not being Kubica rather than question whether the car is rubbish (unless, that is, you are Jacques Villeneuve, as Jacques has suggested that Kubica might be trying to sabotage the performance of Stroll and Sirotkin by misleading them on set up changes with the intention of getting one of them sacked so he can take their seat instead).

        I agree that the bigger problems lie within the team and with the design of the car – Lowe has mentioned that the car has problems, whilst all of the spectators during the tests mentioned that the car looked rubbish in the hands of all of their drivers (Kubica having as little confidence on initial turn in as Sirotkin or Stroll seemed to have).

        For all the shrieking of those wanting to stir up mock outrage over Williams, really the ills of the team have stemmed from the design department for many years now. I mean, there was the botched gearbox and rear crash structure on the FW35 in 2013, persistent design flaws with the rear suspension and the handling balance of the FW36 through to FW38 that the team never really properly addressed, and it sounds as if not only have several of those flaws carried through into the FW41, it sounds as if the team have made it worse – not only is the aero balance out, the talk is that the car has major pitch instability and braking instability issues on top of poor front end grip.

        If you think about it, when did we last see another team look to Williams for inspiration on their cars? Teams like Force India or Sauber have still been able to come up with ideas in the past that other teams wanted to copy – but Williams? Rather damningly, nobody seems to want to follow their design philosophy: whilst teams are interested in what Haas, Renault or McLaren have come up with on their cars, the lack of interest in Williams’s car rather underlines that it probably just isn’t that good.

      2. wibble green-tea
        4th April 2018, 2:17

        @dbradock I have no doubt Massa was very happy to be moving on from the Williams car (less happy to be leaving F1) & totally agree with you he deserved a better end.

        Also agree there’s nothing to indicate that the Williams (2018) car is less of a dog than last year’s. Still Massa out qualified Stroll 17 to 2 in 2017’s dog.

        Credit to stroll for Azerbaijan & Italy where he was 0.453/4s quicker than Massa on his best quali lap (Q2 in both cases). Also Austria where he got almost on terms slower by 0.074s. 0.273s slower in Spain & Malaysia. China, 0.406s slower.

        Special standout for Hungary where Stroll didn’t get out of Q1 & beat a bloke who had never been in a 2017 car, did 5 flying laps with zero setup time in the car by 0.776s.

        A further 4 where Stroll was >0.5 but 1.0s Australia***, Bahrain, Monaco, Canada, Belgium, Japan, USA, Mexico & Brazil.

        *** 1st day at school nerves? 1.6s slower.

        My suspicion remains this williams, recognised flaws & all, could be a second or more higher up the grid in alternate hands. Next couple of races will be interesting hopefully Sirotkin will get over the first day at school nerves & we will see his real pace.

  13. Lance can’t analyze his way out of a paper bag, which isn’t surprising since Laurence allowed him to effectively quit school after the sixth grade.
    If Williams is “the equal” of Force India, that means that the Williams car is easily 7 or 8 tenths faster than the Force India car. We know this because Lance Stroll is easily 7 or 8 tenths slower than Perez and Ocon, all else equal.

    By the way, I wonder how much Laurence Stroll paid the producers of “Breaking Bad” to cast Lance as Walter junior? I guess Lance changed his mind about wanting to be an actor and decided on being a race car driver.

    1. How terribly bitter you are.

      1. Not bitter, just disgusted with what has happened to a once-great sport.

        1. With a remark like that sixth grade one, or the Walter Junior one, your disgust is childish and misdirected.

          1. Sorry, I didn’t realize that you are a fan of Lance and Laurence Stroll. I will try to be more respectful in the future.

          2. Lol I won’t hold my breath for that as you seem to just want to be a S-troll. I am indifferent and at this point I only wish him the car such that he might shut his detractors up, as it’s all gotten very schoolyard.

            I am no fan of the current F1 either, but I see no point is blaming the Stroll’s for that, nor Williams, nor Liberty, which is what seems to be your current hobby.

  14. SparkyAMG (@)
    3rd April 2018, 14:46

    If Stroll’s comments are accurate I’d be very worried for Williams as the season progresses as they’re likely going to find themselves stuck right at the bottom end of the midfield when Force India eventually roll out some upgrades.

  15. Maybe the car is equal but everyone knows Perez and Ocon are faster than you Stroll.

  16. He is right.
    the teams are on the same level, but Force India’s drivers are much faster than Williams’.

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