Should be an interesting year.  As dominant as he has been in F3, he's now against the best. 

Nice to see a Canadian back in F1.

 

His car looks to be to be the best of the rest behind the big three. Will be interesting to see the Mercedes when it gets turned up in Melbourne. Williams appear to have made progression.

Looking forward to seeing him drive.  Haven't followed F1 much since Jacques changed teams......

Don't expect  much from him, he crashed a lot in winter testing. But should be an interesting year.

Edited March 19, 20179 yr by 2strokemerc

Everybody crashes more in the winter...... it's icy out. 

 

5 minutes ago, Puzzleboy said:

Everybody crashes more in the winter...... it's icy out. 

 

Especially Sidewinder drivers..... oh oh I meant 850 pilots. Umm no I mean Thundercat....  Ah forget it. 

Maybe he drove over a Sidewinder turbo......

Actually I think Stroll had one accident in testing and it took a few days to manufacture some replacement parts . After that he came back and did a respectable number of laps. A bit off the pace off his team mate though .

It's another level, and he's young.  Hopefully he can find his way, not get hurt, etc. 

10 hours ago, Pt3189 said:

Actually I think Stroll had one accident in testing and it took a few days to manufacture some replacement parts . After that he came back and did a respectable number of laps. A bit off the pace off his team mate though .

At least three incidents.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/canadian-lance-stroll-goes-off-track-for-second-day-in-a-row-of-f1-testing/article34171288/

Canadian rookie Lance Stroll is off to a rocky start in Formula One pre-season testing.

The Mont-Tremblant, Que., native went off the track in the morning session and then crashed into a wall in the afternoon at the Catalunya track on Wednesday. That made three straight sessions with mishaps for the 18-year old, who was signed by the British team after winning the European F3 championship last year.

In the latest incident, Stroll lost it during a warm-up lap at the end of a straightaway and crashed into a barrier. Unlike the first two, that one left heavy damage on the car.

https://hasstrollcrashedyet.com/

Too bad TSN, Pinty's & of course Toyota couldn't get a Canuck a full time ride in NASCAR. (sarcasm off)

I don't know anything about Lance's career or accomplishments, but for him to get an F1 ride, someone must see something. Or would I be cynical is saying that family money is getting him the ride?

Lots of stories out there about this guy. Time will tell, hope he does OK but he's got a steep hill to climb.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/sport/formula-one/lance-stroll-billionaires-son-prove-worth-formula-one/

 

Only one driver in the history of Formula One has been younger on debut, and, with respect to 18-year-old Canadian Lance Stroll, Max Verstappen might just be in a category all his own.

Verstappen was 17, made a few mistakes, but without consequence because his gifts made our eyes shiver. The Dutch tyro arrived with a reputation for blinding speed carved in Formula Renault. Red Bull signed him to its junior programme and thrust him into F1 the following year in 2015.

Stroll, too, has racked up the race wins in karting and junior formulas, racing to the F3 Championship last year and before that the Italian Formula Four title. He is ferociously quick but that is not enough to appease the green-eyed doubters, who seem unable or unwilling to separate Stroll’s progress from his father’s billions.

Young Driver Radar

Lawrence Stroll is the entrepreneur behind global fashion brands Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors. Though none have seen the receipts it is estimated the cost to Stroll in bankrolling his son’s career totals $40 million to date, including ownership of the victorious Prema Power F3 team.

Doubtless dad’s cash was persuasive in the agreement that sees him rolled out in a Williams at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix season opener alongside Felipe Massa. But that does not make him a bad driver.

Stroll has been on the young driver radar since Ferrari signed him to their junior programme aged 11. Money might get the boy in a seat but it does not propel the car. This Stroll has managed with some success, but not enough to cut the cord attaching him to his father.

Thus Formula One becomes not only an examination of his ability but an opportunity to become himself, to establish a reputation above and beyond his father’s reach. Family bullion has brought him to this point, but no pocket is deep enough to keep him here if the talent runs out.

Super Fast

Speaking to the Montreal Star, fellow Montrealer Jacques Villeneuve, made that very point. “The potential is there. His results have been amazing. He’s super-fast. He works well with the team at setting the car and he’s well-educated. He seems to be extremely passionate as well.

“So all the ingredients are there, it’s for him to make a good cake out of it. He’s fortunate to have the father he’s had, it opened all the doors. But now that he’s in F1, it’s in his hands. I’m normally not positive with young kids coming into F1 but I’m very positive with him.”

To a greater or lesser degree cash is part of the progression from karts to F1. A local businessman helped fund Michael Schumacher’s karting career. The great Ayrton Senna’s family was not without funds and he was sponsored by a Brazilian bank.

Lewis Hamilton started life in social housing but had McLaren behind him from the age of 13, the same age as Sebastian Vettel entered the Red Bull young driver programme. Stroll’s family vault facilitated his rise. Now, as Villeneuve observed, it’s down to him.

Steep Learning Curve

“Everything is a step up and, sometimes, some drivers don’t make the step up. The potential is there. I’m confident it will go well. But we will have to wait and see. We just don’t know,” Villeneuve said.

Stroll found the learning curve steep in the first week of winter testing in Barcelona, crashing after just 12 laps and then forcing the premature end to the programme when slamming into the barriers on the third day. The second week was more productive, ending with 132 laps on day four.

Stroll is not deaf to the haters, but pays them no heed. “I don’t care about the critics. It’s none of my business,” he said at the end of the final test. “We’re all professionals. Things happen in motorsports and you’ve just got to bounce back from it.

“It’s all pretty straightforward to everyone. It was a frustrating week but we set our minds on (week two) and did a good job. We got all our running in, long runs, short runs, all compounds of tyres, so it was a good week.”

And this will be a week like no other, with more than 300,000 through the Albert Park gates, 100,000 of them on race day. Numbers like that afford no place to hide, but then, Stroll has not come this far to blend in.

Canuck will start dead last. Probably a good spot for him. This way he can avoid the midfield carnage from the first lap incidents. He needs to finish first, before thinking about earning any points. It's good to gain experience by finishing. The Haas is a good looking car.

Guess I'm getting old... I miss the old days of F1. Where there was actually passing on the track. This type of racing reminded me of seeing a 2nd grade field trip in Toronto..... Where all the kids were roped together....

On 3/21/2017 at 7:19 AM, 2strokemerc said:

Lots of stories out there about this guy. Time will tell, hope he does OK but he's got a steep hill to climb.

He is ferociously quick but that is not enough to appease the green-eyed doubters, who seem unable or unwilling to separate Stroll’s progress from his father’s billions.

Young Driver Radar

Lawrence Stroll is the entrepreneur behind global fashion brands Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors. Though none have seen the receipts it is estimated the cost to Stroll in bankrolling his son’s career totals $40 million to date, including ownership of the victorious Prema Power F3 team.

Doubtless dad’s cash was persuasive in the agreement that sees him rolled out in a Williams at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix season opener alongside Felipe Massa. But that does not make him a bad driver.

Family bullion has brought him to this point, but no pocket is deep enough to keep him here if the talent runs out.

So my suspicions were confirmed. Reminds me of a friend that raced open wheel in the CASC (last being in Formula Ford before the late Greg Moore moved up. We were talking about the Molson Indy 1 day and he commented about someone (who I had never heard of in open wheel racing) as being a 'stone'. He said it was someone that didn't have talent, but had a lot of money behind him.

Stroll qualifies 10th. Not bad for his second ever F1 race.

If he has a clean race he should pick up some points . He actually had slower times as qualifying went on. 

F1 is 90% mental  

90% car, anyway........

Alonso to race at Indy?

https://drivetribe.com/p/Vc82cpGpT8CKOp0YLKkW6A?iid=CGQdEtQNTnKOLdNWBhSgkw&utm_campaign=formula1&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=organic

The shock news was confirmed by Alonso's McLaren team on Wednesday morning and is already being seen as a move by the team to keep their star driver happy following a wretched start to the season for the McLaren-Honda partnership.

Alonso will race a McLaren-backed Andretti Autosport car with a Honda engine.

'I’m immensely excited that I’ll be racing in this year’s Indy 500, with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport,' he said.

On April 8, 2017 at 5:22 PM, Puzzleboy said:

90% car, anyway........

BULLFUCKINGSHIT  

The car (i.e, budget) is critical in F1 racing.  The best driver will not win with a car that is middle-pack to worst.  This is well documented, and history pretty much proves it.  This is not a slight against F1 drivers in any respect; they are the best.  It's simply the formula for modern day F1 racing..... wasn't really the case many years ago. 

So yeah, somewhere between 80-90% car..... this is well documented.  For something like MotoGP bike racing, the ratio is nearly reversed.

Just got my tickets for Canadian. Grand Prix today . Grandstand 24 at the hairpin. Some tighter racing this year , a little more 

parity.

I like the Montreal F1, but seem to recall long walks.  Bring a wheeled cooler. 

 

10 hours ago, Pt3189 said:

Just got my tickets for Canadian. Grand Prix today . Grandstand 24 at the hairpin. Some tighter racing this year , a little more 

parity.

With those wider, sticky tires there should be more passing at the hairpin this year. And more contenders for the lead, should be good.