Lance Stroll to Williams F1?

[NaBUru38]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/126407

I strongly disagree with promoting F3 drivers straight into F1.

F1 drivers should have at least two seasons of experience above F3.
GP2 drivers should have at least one season of experience above F3.
GP3 drivers should have at least one season of experience in F3.

[P38 in workshop]

You have every right to your opinion.

[andrewc]

Even Kimi and Jenson?

[wolfhound]

you could add Senna, Prost, Piquet & Hakkinen to that list not forgetting Martin Brundle.

[Mike Harte]

You almost include James Hunt in that list as he just dabbled in F2 before writing the car off, as well. And I am sure that there are plenty of others, too.

[bella]

couldn't give a stuff about the effect he'll have. i have a lot of respect for how he sorted himself out last season in f3, and no matter what you think about the manner in which his championship title came about he did a heck of a lot better than lesser talents given the same chances.

the biggest issue about this is the potential funding vacuum left behing at prema where stroll snr won't invest in the team any more, and all of a sudden every drive has to be funded to pay the huge overheads. see: carlin.

i know my records stuck, but fair play to him.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by bella

couldn't give a stuff about the effect he'll have. i have a lot of respect for how he sorted himself out last season in f3, and no matter what you think about the manner in which his championship title came about he did a heck of a lot better than lesser talents given the same chances.

the biggest issue about this is the potential funding vacuum left behing at prema where stroll snr won't invest in the team any more, and all of a sudden every drive has to be funded to pay the huge overheads. see: carlin.

i know my records stuck, but fair play to him.

The advantage should now show up with Williams, a pilot that seems to have skill behind the wheel, and can keep the books balanced..

Even if he had every opportunity that money could buy at Prema, Mr Stroll still had to drive the thing...

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by bella

couldn't give a stuff about the effect he'll have. i have a lot of respect for how he sorted himself out last season in f3, and no matter what you think about the manner in which his championship title came about he did a heck of a lot better than lesser talents given the same chances.

the biggest issue about this is the potential funding vacuum left behing at prema where stroll snr won't invest in the team any more, and all of a sudden every drive has to be funded to pay the huge overheads. see: carlin.

i know my records stuck, but fair play to him.

True that. In any case Prema has put themselves in about as good as a position as they can to attract other investments. If they can't do it now, well, I guess the team owner always has a choice if he wants to burn real bright for a while when a rich family shows up.

[steve_r]

They bought in changes to the super licence system to avoid wholly inexperienced drivers moving from their local scalextric league straight into F1. This guy has already qualified for a super licence, so he is good to go.

Of course he is going to be slated even before he turns a wheel, because his dad is rich.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

True that. In any case Prema has put themselves in about as good as a position as they can to attract other investments. If they can't do it now, well, I guess the team owner always has a choice if he wants to burn real bright for a while when a rich family shows up.

historically trying to sell off these big dad-owned teams is awkward, because the dad is used to selling companies off at a profit for what they're worth potentially. but in motorsport the reality is it's like buying a factory standard car, and modifying it to your own tastes then trying to sell it for a price that recoups all the money you've invested. ain't going to happen. see: p1 motorsport when it was owned by the grubmullers.

the huge overheads are an inconvenience to someone looking to run it as an actual racing team to break even or run a small profit without the incentive to invest. the assets aren't really worth much more than a team run without the big investor.

you're right though, compared to other teams who have had similar investment they're in far better shape and have turned out exactly the results they needed to, and arguably exceeded them. it'll take a monster budget in each series to break even and thankfully for them they're in exactly the right position to demand that.

but like property, it takes the right buyer who shares the exact same vision as the seller to pay the kind of money the seller wants. very rare, particularly when buyers with that kind of money aren't as prevalent as people might think.

[BSchneiderFan]

To quote Mario Andretti, if you can drive, you can drive. He qualifies for a superlicence and has turned 18, so he ticks the necessary boxes.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

you could add Senna, Prost, Piquet & Hakkinen to that list not forgetting Martin Brundle.

I was thinking the same thing and you can also add Trulli, Sato and Sutil to the list. Although I think Prost actually did a bit of F2 before going to F1

[BSchneiderFan]

Nope, he won the French and European F3 titles in 1979 then signed for McLaren for 1980.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

To quote Mario Andretti, if you can drive, you can drive. He qualifies for a superlicence and has turned 18, so he ticks the necessary boxes.

He can race an F3 car.

[peebee2]

Of course Lance was a better choice than all the alternative choices!

Huelkenburg, Mags, Ocon, Grosjean, Palmer, Giovinazzi, Lynn, wehrlein, Ericsson, Nasr etc. etc.

The 40+ millions per year are nothing to do with it

[BSchneiderFan]

Autosport makes a pretty compelling case for Stroll being the right choice. Come on, chaps, he's a dominant European F3 champion. Stepping up to the midfield of F1 isn't such a stretch. Anyone remember where Kimi came from?

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Anyone remember where Kimi came from?

Kimi came from British Formula Renault UK 2000, after he was crowned Champion there.

[Mekola]

BTW, I consider Stroll management very similar to the one done to Nelsihno Piquet. I'm tempted to name him "Canadian Nelsinho".

[S griffin]

Quite fraknkly all the other ones they wanted are not available so they decided to take a gamble on Stroll and I think it's one worth taking IMHO

[bella]

stroll's not a gamble, they've been invested in him for several years. they've watched him progress and decided that he's worth investing in to get the investment out. force india haven't put mazepin in yet and they've got similar levels of experience, if you catch my drift.

people seem to assume there's one type of rich driver who has one type of ability. they aren't all max chilton or will stevens.

[knighty]

Originally Posted by bella

stroll's not a gamble, they've been invested in him for several years. they've watched him progress and decided that he's worth investing in to get the investment out. force india haven't put mazepin in yet and they've got similar levels of experience, if you catch my drift.

people seem to assume there's one type of rich driver who has one type of ability. they aren't all max chilton or will stevens.

Stroll is without doubt very talented driver and has romped to this years Euro F3 title in dominating fashion......but lets talk about the elephant in the room shall we!.......his father is worth 2.4 Billion Dollars and owns the Michael Koors and Tommy Hilfiger fashion brands.........on that basis I'm sure the only investment was from his father to the Williams teams bank account......Stroll is paying for his drive without a shadow of a doubt, say 10 million per year from his father is like losing some change down the sofa, I can also imagine some fashion brands will start to appear on the Williams FW40 next year, as fashion sponsors rubbing shoulders with an iconic brand like Martini will be perceived as quite cool by his father I'm sure.

Best of luck to him, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

[chillibowl]

if there has to be pay drivers, then i guess i would rather see a driver's family pay the bills then a state run company using their own citizens money to fund a driver for example.

much bigger elephant for me was where Maldonado's money came from to be honest.

im going to wait and see what he does before i pass judgement on his right to be on the grid...might even be the boost Bottas needs to start his career moving forward again.

[tux]

I dont expect Stroll will find it too hard, he will probably have done more hours in the simulator than any one.

[knighty]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

if there has to be pay drivers, then i guess i would rather see a driver's family pay the bills then a state run company using their own citizens money to fund a driver for example.

much bigger elephant for me was where Maldonado's money came from to be honest.

im going to wait and see what he does before i pass judgement on his right to be on the grid...might even be the boost Bottas needs to start his career moving forward again.

Nah, Maldonados money was from ocean drilled oil, when it was at $150 a barrel.....then the saudis dropped their price below $50 a barrel and the PDVSA oil did the same as scottish drilled oil......it became worthless overnight, its just not financially viable to drill oil with a ocean located oil rig at $50 a barrel......yes Lawrence stroll is a true petrol head, he owns a huge collection of Ferrari's and a Canadian race circuit.......not bad I must say.......also I will correct my prediction of 10 million dollars per year to about 30 million dollars......Lawrence Stroll is on par with Bernies type of wealth and has money to burn, he could probably afford to buy Williams outright and not break a bead of sweat.

[BSchneiderFan]

Originally Posted by Mekola

Kimi came from British Formula Renault UK 2000, after he was crowned Champion there.

That was rather my point. He turned out all right.