The king is dead, long live the king.
Only 102 days to lights out for 2023..
Suzuka this weekend 😎
Hilariously I wondered how old he was and thought he was 30, but he is only 25. He did some great rides like Turkey some years ago, he scored podiums and so on. I think he deserves his place in F1 and he is still young as weird as it sounds as he is also amongst the most experienced drivers ever. For now he is the driver that fits Aston, this can change quickly.
I thikk you're massaging the numbers there. Stroll might be near the 50%mark, but I doubt he's in the top half of drivers. He also had 2 best drivers of the last 15 years as teammates, but they were both aging. Vettel ended his career as Strolls teammate and had been on the slide for several years. And alonso is still very strong but has to be past his prime. Stroll is being hammered by a late stage Alonso, imagine the gaps is alonso was in his prime.
Stroll is in the top 50 most experienced drivers of all time and he's not good. He's totally matured and he's gotten more chances than any other driver with his skills.
They're already bought into F1. Or to put it the other way, F1 has already sold out to The Saudis.
Sportswashing works.
Yeah in fairness to Stroll he has generally shown himself to be a much better driver than people give him credit for, he hasn’t set the world alight but he’s in the middle 50%, certainly above the likes of Sargent or Bottas. He’s been in the unfortunate position of having the two strongest drivers of the previous 15 years as his teammates in recent seasons which would make anyone look bad.
His performance has started to drop recently though. I’m not sure if he ever recovered 100% from that wrist injury, I recall footage of him struggling to get out of the car because of his hand and taking it off the wheel on straights to rest it quite a few races after he was given the all clear.
My ethical viewpoint about Saudi Arabia and how it flexes it's muscles in the men's sports mostly. Look at how many world famous soccer players are linked to Saudi money these days.
He was shielded from serious competition by an aging Vettel the last 2 years and even then he got hammered last year. Vettel outscored him 2:1
Why is that concerning? The Saudis have already bought into F1. Stroll is just a money man. He's not a designer or engineer or anything.
Interestingly, Stroll has been in F1 since the 90s so he might be committed to F1 for himself, even if Lance isn't his driver.
Definitely a bit of a headache for Alpha Tauri Lawson doing so well so early on, Ricciardos stardom and experience is obviously desirable, aswell as him coming in with a point to prove. Perhaps Tsunoda may be dropped for Lawson and Ricciardo renewed for the year? He's had a fair stint and has hardly set the world alight, maybe it's time to change it up?
Did not hear anything. Lawson is doing a great gradual improvement without breaking things. Giovanazzi was similar then started breaking things.
I doubt Stroll thinking his son will ever be champion or that he builds the team for this task. Its to promote Aston Martin as brand. He was realistic that it would take time to build the r&d up to be competitive. Until Honda comes in, they won't. His son will be still 27 , he was not afraid to cut Othmar he will be happy to cut his son or send him to sportscar racing. This year is the first time Lance is actually underperforming in an obvious way.
I'd caution getting too excited. DeVries put down a good marker in Monza last year and look how that went. AT are getting a change at the top as well next year with Franz Tost retiring.
Was listening to BBC Chequered Flag Podcast qualifying review and within that Andrew Benson said something very concerning. He reckons once the Strolls get over their delusion that Lance will ever be a World Champion, Lawrence will sell the team to the Saudis.
I thought I heard that Suzuka was still too soon for Daniel to be back racing so Lawson will get another run out. He’s done a great job all things considered so would be nice to see him get a race seat for next year. Couldn’t do any worse than De Vries or Sargeant.
After Lawson getting into the groove, will he stay at least for Suzuka? 2024 he put down his card and will be hard to ignore.
Ye I really hope if Mercedes do try to change that it goes no where. Feck of Mercedes. It would look extremely bad for the sport too.
All this madness with Massa and now caught the eye of Mercedes it seems.
I really can't comprehend all of this, it is truly bizarre.
Yes I agree. He generally does better at the beginning of a season than the middle or end of it so it would be better if someone else was in his seat. It will be another year at least anyway untill that happens now as Alfa have already signed him for next year.
Bottas is only there to make up numbers at this stage, it's about time he left and let a seat free up someone else
Hopefully not...
It's ok. Lawrence will leave a tennis racket under the tree for him.
It'll make for an awkward Christmas dinner in the Stroll house if he's pushed out of his own team.
It would have been unjust if Zhou lost his seat and Bottas kept his.
Does that just leave Williams and Alpha Tauri left to confirm line up?
Zhou confirmed for Sauber next year.
I was thinking when Stroll goes so Yuki and Alonso or whoever replaces Alonso.
Yuki and Stroll might be the worst driver lineup on the grid. Both pay drivers of sorts. Certainly the worst driver lineup for a team with ambitions towards the front.
He will probably end up going to Aston Martin along with Honda.
Isn't Yuki really only there due to Honda having a word in RBs ear? With Honda going to AM for the future, you would have to imagine that Yukis time there is limited.
Red Bull have never rated Tsunoda. Funnily enough, the most recent indication of this was De Vries being ousted.
De Vries was brought in to be the team leader, but instead he was generally a little off the pace when compared to Tsunoda. However, if Red Bull were of the opinion that Tsunoda was driving the wheels off his car, and getting the absolute maximum out of it, De Vries being a little off wouldn't have seemed so bad.
The fact that Red Bull gave De Vries the boots suggests that they still thought that Nyck should be beating Yuki - which doesn't speak highly of how they rate Yuki's driving.
From the outside, it seems that Yuki is there to appease Honda, and not much more. Probably an unfair assessment of Yuki, but RBR are ruthless as we all know.
They were saying on F1 Nation that AlphaTauri want to get back to being a young driver development team so Ricciardo wouldn't really fit into that narrative.
You have to say, Logan Sergeant's seat at Williams is looking like a very attractive position these days. Both Yuki and Daniel might want to open talks with James Vowles
Saw this as a rumour. You could see it happening, would be terrible for Yuki. I do get the impression that red bull aren't too enamoured with Tsunoda though, so you could see it happening...
