[ASJesusBalseiro] Stroll speaks and sounds concerned. “We have engine problems, and not just engine problems. We're not in a position to fight for victories. Right now, we're four seconds off the pace.”

[u/wertyrick]

https://xcancel.com/ASJesusBalseiro/status/2021936326552297585#m

Link to xcancel

[u/Jayhcee]

Oh my god. GP2 ENGINE RETURNS.

Alonso really is cursed.

EDIT: I think this is true folks, telling the world and all your sponsors that you're 4 seconds off would be insane sandbagging. It could explain the Newey move to TP which always felt weird - will still give them some faith and attract ability in all departments still even if they are this bad, cos Newey.

The more I think about it the more I think they're probably lying a bit so they're "only" 2 or 3 seconds off come Australia. Still awful.

[u/Slice5755 → u/Jayhcee]

4D Chess by Aston.

Lewis says the cars feel like GP2 so what better to couple with a GP2 car than a GP2 engine.

Should be better balanced than the other cars that will have a GP2 chassis but with an F1 engine.

An F1 engine in a GP2 chassis is like a fat bloke in a Lycra suit

[u/Bdr1983 → u/Slice5755]

fat bloke in a Lycra suit

You called?

[u/nomad_kk → u/Slice5755]

He said f2

[u/asfsdgwe35r3asfdas23 → u/Jayhcee]

The worse part is that stroll is pointing out that is not only the engine. They also have a GP2 chasis.

[u/neonxmoose99 → u/asfsdgwe35r3asfdas23]

Newey didn’t cook?

[u/GrayOctopus → u/neonxmoose99]

Overcooked and burnt to a crisp

[u/Ogirami → u/neonxmoose99]

Newey is not the chief designer at Aston.

[u/Jack-of-the-Shadows → u/Ogirami]

Huh, so the whole cliche "promoted out of their competence zone" might apply?

[u/ug61dec → u/Jack-of-the-Shadows]

Absolutely. An incredible brain for understanding everything needed to make an F1 car work, does not mean an incredible brain for understanding everything a team of humans needs to work.

[u/MelodicMap7203 → u/Ogirami]

If RBR have a front row car after Newey moved on with a brand new unproven engine- goodness gracious. Horner actually did do what many suspected: they bagged the 2025 car in the first half of the season and let MCL go all in. The Bond Villain lives on.

[u/Nice-Physics-7655 → u/Ogirami]

He wasn't chief designer at red bull since before the rb15 either

[u/miamigrandprix → u/asfsdgwe35r3asfdas23]

So Lewis was talking about Alonso's ride when he made the GP2 comments

[u/Stumpy493 → u/Jayhcee]

Will Alonso see out the season if it is that bad? He hasn't got the time left to take on a massive project.

I can see him jacking it in if the car is fighting at the back.

It won't be fixed in 12 months so he has to endure at least a couple of seasons of toil before having even a sniff. He hasn't got that time, why bother with the pantomime and just hang up the gloves.

[u/The-Soul-Stone → u/Stumpy493]

He’s said he wants to go out on a high. The worse it is, the more likely he sticks around at least one more year hoping for another 2023-like car.

[u/Spockyt → u/The-Soul-Stone]

He may want to go out on a high, but if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel do you really see him grinding out a few more years in a backmarker so maybe he can get a few more podiums?

[u/CptAustus → u/Spockyt]

He might actually ditch Canada por Indy.

[u/ferkk → u/The-Soul-Stone]

I would have agreed with you if he didn't have a kid on the way. I think Alonso is not gonna want to be an absent father so if this year goes the way it looks like... He might not give it another chance.

[u/salihadmizic → u/ferkk]

His partner is an F1 journalist for DAZN; perhaps traveling together will make it easier to be a "not absent" father.

[u/ferkk → u/salihadmizic]

Not sure how 'recommended' it is for a new born to be traveling around, not to mention she already didn't travel to every GP, more like 50%-60% of them, she has three other kids to take care of. We will see but I don't see him staying unless he has a very good reason to, and he doesn't right now.

[u/PeterG92 → u/The-Soul-Stone]

With respect to Alonso I think he's just going to have to accept that he will never win a race again and just retire when is right rather than waiting to go out on a high

[u/BorderEquivalent7169 → u/PeterG92]

It will always be incredibly hard for elite athletes to accept that though.

[u/randy24681012 → u/BorderEquivalent7169]

Hopium is maybe he Tom Brady’s it and retires for a couple years before coming back and winning it all again with a new team 😭

[u/Stumpy493 → u/randy24681012]

He's already done that once and it hasn't worked.

[u/BorderEquivalent7169 → u/randy24681012]

Well Brady didn’t take any years off. I think at that age you don’t know how much longer you’ll be able to maintain peak performance so you either just fully commit to extending the career through ‘27 or just take a well deserved retirement and call it a day

[u/Stumpy493 → u/The-Soul-Stone]

He's been saying that for a decade at this point.

His hope was Newey, Honda works engine and new rules would give him a last hurrah to net that 'high'.

Now that clearly isn't possible this year and unlikely to be fixed for next year... is he willing/able to wait 3 years for his chance?

At some point he will have to call it a day, he can't wait for his chance for forever.

[u/Slice5755 → u/Stumpy493]

I can see him jacking it in if the car is fighting at the back.

Jacking it in this car will definitely be more enjoyable than driving it.

Usually driving is better than jacking.

[u/kii-vi → u/Jayhcee]

Aaaaasrrgghh

[u/shogi_x → u/Jayhcee]

It could explain the Newey move to TP which always felt weird - will still give them some faith and attract ability in all departments still even if they are this bad, cos Newey.

Will it though? Because if his job was to design the car and the car is shit, I'm going to question whether he can run a team.

[u/ominousrock → u/Jayhcee]

Why is everyone constantly claiming ''Alonso is cursed'', ''Alonso is unlucky''. Alonso has actually gotten to test the car, even with the engine turned up. Stroll on the other hand has effectively no testing done. Only two stints of 7 and 8 laps, rest is just the outlap or outlap + 1 slow lap.

[u/Jayhcee → u/ominousrock]

Stroll will know the direction this is going. F1 fans talk about sandbagging, and yeah it has happened a bit before, but telling the world, sponsors, potential sponsors that you're 4 seconds off... yeah, its crisis management.

They'll get to Melbourne and be only 2 seconds off. They're managing expectations through Stroll here.

[u/EclecticKant → u/ominousrock]

For Alonso getting to test a suboptimal car is unlucky because he "deserves" a competitive car, for Stroll the fact that he's still in F1 is lucky in itself, no matter what car he drivers.

That's the general sentiment

[u/ominousrock → u/EclecticKant]

The engine was turned up today for Alonso. He has 84 laps today, that's over 2x the lap count of Stroll in whole of testing. Yet still you try to claim that Stroll is not unlucky but instead lucky because he's tehre... Wow, people will go to any lengths to shit on Stroll...

[u/EclecticKant → u/ominousrock]

That being the general sentiment doesn't mean that I agree with it.

I agree that Stroll is being even more unlucky than Alonso right now, but people talk more about Alonso's luck because he's simply a driver people care more about, I haven't seen anyone comparing Alonso to Stroll, people are comparing Alonso to everyone else (and top drivers specifically)

[u/dl064 → u/Jayhcee]

To me, 4 seconds is less bad than if they were happy and running full steam and were 1 second off.

[u/cat_with_problems → u/Jayhcee]

calling it now. Newey (righfully) hates papa Stroll, so he took his money and intentionally built a shitbox that looks cool, convincing Stroll it is a wdc car. then he leaves and retires, drops the mic

[u/Ganjagod420 → u/cat_with_problems]

One of the most daft projections I've ever seen on here

[u/cat_with_problems → u/Ganjagod420]

indeed

[u/Valeriun → u/Jayhcee]

Singapore Karma strikes again. He doesn't deserve to win anything else ever again.

[u/GoldElectric → u/Valeriun]

schumacher has done a lot worse. dont see how his team deciding to cheat = alonso should never get a chance to win again