Esteban Ocon, Force India, Red Bull Ring, 2018

No Force India driver line-up change “for the short term”

2018 Belgian Grand Prix

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Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez will remain Force India’s drivers in the “short term” at least, according to team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

The team’s sale to a consortium headed by Lawrence Stroll prompted rumours his son Lance Stroll could move to the team from Williams, potentially as early as the next race at Monza.

Asked about his plans for the driver line-up during today’s FIA press conference, Szafnauer said there wouldn’t be an immediate change.

“For the short term, it’s the same two,” he said. “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.”

Asked whether Stroll will remain at Williams for the rest of the season, deputy team principal Claire Williams did not rule out the possibility of him changing teams before the end of the year.

“There are a lot of twists and turns in Formula 1 aren’t there?” she said. “I think we’ve seen that over the past few weeks alone. I think it might be slightly odd if Lawrence owns one team and his son is another, but this is Formula 1!

“At the moment Lance is contracted to drive for us, he’s driving here this weekend and as soon as we have more information, when we know, then we will share that.”

Stroll’s career has benefited from his father’s backing but Szafnauer said he has proven he deserves his place in F1.

“Lance, for sure, especially in the lower formulas, has proven to be a race winner, a winner of championships. We’ve been watching him too because he’s a competitor of ours.

“Every time it rains it seems like his talent shines and that’s usually the sign of a driver that has great car control. We don’t know him intimately but for sure he deserves to be in this sport, not just because of his dad.”

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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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25 comments on “No Force India driver line-up change “for the short term””

  1. Every time it rains it seems like his talent shines and that’s usually the sign of a driver that has great car control. We don’t know him intimately but for sure he deserves to be in this sport, not just because of his dad.

    Stroll will be with them by Monza, the speech is written already.

    1. Stroll will be with them by Monza, the speech is written already.

      There’s just one thing that would make it worthwile: if Williams decides to give Kubica a chance until the end of the season.

      1. @toiago I’ve heard rumours that that is going to happen.

        1. A straight swap with Ocon is more likely and a better option for Williams

          1. Given the Mercedes connection, I’d imagine that this is the most likely outcome.

    2. he can “shine” in the rain bcz his initial turn-in is weak. in F1 a driver needs to attack every corner or they will be slow. remember Alguersuari, always driving in the middle of the road everywhere. another driver who while out front with the best machinery never honed these fine motor-skills in the junior formulae. ah, karma.

  2. Dieter :”Otmar, isn’t true you got offered 25% of the team stakes ? ”

    Otmar : “Wow, wouldn’t that be great !”

    LOL, I like this guy !

    1. @nickpkr251 I found that funny as well, LOL.

  3. Brp. Just had to swallow my own vomit there.

    1. That’s pretty disgusting, @hogee.

  4. Lance Stroll will be driving for Daddy’s Money/Forced Purchase Racing before the end of the season, guaranteed. That goofy grin that’s been plastered across his mug since the purchase was announced isn’t there by accident.

  5. I’ll have far more respect for the team (and for the Stroll family) if Perez and Ocon finish the season. Sadly, I don’t expect they’ll take my respect into account when making their decision…

  6. I don’t understand what papa Stroll has to win by changing drivers at Racing Point Force India.

    Surely he realises the team will have more points by the end of the season by keeping the sale line-up. Plus breaking his contract with Williams probably costs something?

    1. He bought the team so his son could drive a faster car in F1. It is just money to him. I doubt there are any contract problems stroll daddy could not solve with more money at this point. If he is willing to buy a team then paying some money to williams for contract termination surely is not going to matter much.

      1. I am not quite sure that Ocon’s backers (ie. Mercedes) are interested in money if it means him not having a good place in F1 for the rest of the season (or 2019) though @socksolid – for them it’s a bit of a nightmare currently I’d say.

        1. I think every driver has an exit clause in their contracts. If the contract is ended prematurely the driver needs to be paid his salary for the remainder or there is a fee for the termination. When kimi got booted from ferrari they still had to keep paying kimi. Contracts can be ended at any time but not without cost.

          In the end it is a question of who is willing to pay more for the seat? Ocon and mercedes or stroll. Stroll can easily pay for the remainder of salaries in ocon’s contract or the termination fee (or both). But does he want to? Mercedes could in theory offer more money which makes the situation a bidding competition between stroll and mercedes. In the end I’d expect stroll to be willing to pay more. I doubt mercedes is interested possibly paying several tens of millions for a seat they already paid for. Just for ocon to do half a season or however long there is time left in ocon’s contract.

          Stroll could also have financial contracts with williams he needs to pay for the rest of the season regardless of whether he drives or not. I think it is possible stroll only gets into the force india when the season ends. If ocon can not fit into the mclaren cockpit (there have been talks about ocon being too tall to fit in the mclaren) then it is going to be tougher for stroll to pay to switch drivers around before the season ends.

          One question is that how much does ocon get to decide for himself? I’d imagine ocon could accept a move to mclaren but doesn’t want to go to williams. Making that move cheaper for stroll to pay. So moving ocon to williams might cost a lot more than it would to move him to mclaren. I think one possibility is that ocon goes to sauber. Ericson seems to be on his way out and if ocon does not fit into the mclaren and doesn’t want to go to williams then sauber could be a possibility. But does ocon and mercedes accept that? Money money money. Stroll could probably pay enough to make things just happen but I think he is looking if he could save some money here. Not to mention it is not good idea for stroll to ruin ocon’s career and ruin their relationship with mercedes. Next time stroll wants to jump ships he might have tougher time if he uppsets too many people in this debacle.

    2. On the other hand, it could possibly raise some integrity issues, no?

  7. I think it might be slightly odd if Lawrence owns one team and his son is another, but this is Formula 1!

    Claire Williams has obviously never heard of Suzie Wolff…

    1. Toto doesn’t own Mercedes and Susie wasn’t a regular driver.

      1. Wolff was a Williams share holder (15%) and director (member of the board) when Susie got a development driver role there.

        Wolff has significant shares (30%) in Mercedes AMG Formula One Team. Susie has become Mercedes “ambassador”. She joined the Venturi Formula E Team as team principal where she is also a shareholder. Venturi Formula E Team has a very close association with Mercedes.

  8. “Lance, for sure, especially in the lower formulas, has proven to be a race winner, a winner of championships. We’ve been watching him too because he’s a competitor of ours.
    “Every time it rains it seems like his talent shines and that’s usually the sign of a driver that has great car control. We don’t know him intimately but for sure he deserves to be in this sport, not just because of his dad.”

    1. That didn’t take to long.

    2. It’s true he’s been decent in the wet so far and he obviously didn’t have the car to show THAT much in the rain, but let’s not forget jos verstappen and barrichello: you can be good in the rain and be a bad or average driver, there’s not only schumacher, senna, hamilton etc.

      1. Jos Verstappen wasn’t a bad/average driver, but he seemed to be too impetuous at the start of his career (and wasn’t they guy Briatore backed at Benneton), then never really got the team choice right @esploratore, and Barrichello was also above average, though maybe broken by his Schumacher teammate who was clearly a lot better than he expected.

  9. Stroll has been fast in the wet, but slow in the dry. 95% of races are dry.

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