Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

Rumours that Lance Stroll may even leave Williams before the season is over.

Asked about possibility of mid-season driver changes Stroll gave some interesting answers. First he was asked if he would be finishing the season at Williams, replied with.

"Well nothing's guaranteed. But right now I'm going to be just focused on this weekend and I'm going to give it my all like I always do and we'll see what the future holds.

Right now, I'm going to be just taking it weekend by weekend and we'll see what happens.
For the moment, I am here at Williams. I am not sure what I will be doing in the future.

We'll see what my father decides to do. He's a nice guy, I'll hope he takes me. "

Personally that above response all but confirms those rumours. Keep reiterating that he's with Williams...for now, and that he's looking at it week by week, not knowing what his future is. Sounds pretty certain.

Also odd comments. Have to wait and see what father decides. Also continuing on the Lance Stroll theme, he also had a bit of a moan about people doubting his ability.

"They are so many engineers and people in F! who impact the car, I think the drivers are the easy ones to blame but if you had an experienced driver you'd find something else to blame."

"Last year, I was getting better results being a worse driver than I am this year.
In my eyes that sums it up."

I really do not like this guy.

skipper_G wrote: »

I watched the press conference, that first comment where he says "see what my father decides" doesn't translate to text at all how he actually said it. He said it like a joke, while laughing and with a smile on his face. I thought it was a good response actually, he's not stupid or naive enough to think anyone has any doubts about which car he's driving next season

I got the idea that it was a joke, and we all know he'll be there next season but now sounds like he could switch sooner than that.

Maybe I'm bias as I've never been a fan of him, so latched onto his comments calling out the other people working on the car as reason for it struggling.

skipper_G wrote: »

My own personal opinion is he'll move this season, the timing will be tight to get it done for Monza because there will be some legal and contractual things to cover off but I reckon by Singapore they'll have it done and Perez will have a new teammate.

As for the comments about the car, he's right isn't he? I mean we don't blame Alonso because the Mclaren engineers designed a sh1tbox do we? That Williams is a garbage car, that's not on the drivers. That's the engineers and designers. I think Stroll is damned no matter what he says or does, people will always associate him with has father's money and that will cloud our judgement. It doesn't help that he comes across as a bit unlikable either

The bit in bold is it all for me. I don't like him, I think he is extremely cocky and self-entitled even for an F1 driver's standards.

Maybe I'm interpreting his interview about the blame wrong but rather than share it across the entire team it came across to me like he was rather shifting it to the mechanics, engineers and designers, with his comment that he's driving better than last year.

Even when he was doing well he still had that arrogance, loved throwing blame other peoples ways and having little tantrums. Then I compare this to another young driver like Charles Leclerc and it's completely opposite.

I don't really care about who his dad is, I know others do, but he just comes across very unlikeable to me so I can't support him, even when he has good races.

Inviere wrote: »

It’s interesting that they have been docked all points, given the argument is that they’re a new commercial entity...but their PU usage hasn’t been reset.

It seems like a bespoke deal.

They’re getting to keep their historical constructors points which they so they’re getting a good deal. Resetting the PU allocation would give them a competitive advantage. All the teams needed to vote for them keeping their historical constructors points so they wouldn’t do that if they were getting an advantage over them in the same season.

Adamocovic wrote: »

Force India or whatever they are called now off to a flyer!

Timing with the weather played a part but fair play to them

Force India (FI) should have rebranded as Feck It

Do you think Ericsson will be ditched? Why would Vandoorne end up there in Sauber?

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

I think someone is hitting the whacky stuff a bit too hard on this Saturday night if he thinks Vandoorne will end up at Sauber in place of Ericsson.

Article about it here.

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

Is that site credible?

I think they broke the Ricciardo to Renault deal first. Dieter Rencken is part of it, he's pretty good

Seen it mentioned on Reddit that “reliable sources” on Twitter are claiming that Perez has spoken to, and is moving to Haas. It’s the silly season that just keeps on giving.

Inviere wrote: »

Seen it mentioned on Reddit that “reliable sources” on Twitter are claiming that Perez has spoken to, and is moving to Haas. It’s the silly season that just keeps on giving.

I saw that on twitter alright, but I don't know the guy who started it, what his sources are and how reliable they are. The ones I do trust are all saying Perez is expected to stay with Force India. He just tweeted something about unnamed sources

I would well believe Haas want Checo, brings money and performs consistently well he would be a huge step forward from Grosjean

mickdw wrote: »

I think grosjean is a quicker driver that perez but obviously has issues. If grosjean can have a good run to season end, all might be forgiven.

I think Perez is just as quick as Grosjean but is far more consistent

10 place penalty for Hulk in Monza.

So what about the halo then?

Is it still a big waste of time or a potential life saver?