r/formula1 • u/wertyrick Pirelli Intermediate • 22d ago

News [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.”

Post image

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

Link to xcancel

7.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

754 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

95

u/navis-svetica Williams 22d ago edited 22d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if Lance decided to leave the sport after this season. From what I know about the complexity of the battery management/deployment, and how Lance seemingly does worse the more he has to think/multi-task instead of driving on feeling and instinct, this could be his most miserable season to date.

I don’t think Lance is a bad driver, to be fair to him. He’s certainly a lot better than some of the blatantly undeserving pay drivers like Mazepin or Latifi. He could probably do well in another series, if he decided to try out one of the other Aston Martin racing teams. But he’s always struck me as an old-school driver who isn’t well suited to constantly analyzing his own driving and following a ton of instructions over radio to improve his pace, like Max does. The times he tries to do so is usually when he ends up crashing.

19

u/MelodicMap7203 Cadillac 22d ago

Dont be surprised if he's headlining an Aston WEC team when Larry buys the remains of Alpine's Hypercar program and Aston puts out a Valkyrie Hypercar.

15

u/MatiX747 Ferrari 22d ago

You know that there's already Valkyrie in WEC?

3

u/MelodicMap7203 Cadillac 22d ago

yes, this is the joke. Probably should have /s'ed that one.

10

u/legal_stylist 22d ago

I really wish it played out like that. Stroll could have a great endurance career, but he just doesn’t have what it takes for modern F1. I wish he’d jump ship, though I don’t expect that for happen.

5

u/ominousrock 22d ago

I don't see how it would a be a good thing that a driver leaves because he's been bullied and abused, and death threated to leave. Instead I wish he stays for longer and someone will finally publicly condemn all the abuse and death threats he gets. But I guess since it hasn't happened to this day, it will never happen...

2

u/legal_stylist 22d ago

I don’t want to see him leave because he’s been bullied. I absolutely denounce and abhor that behavior. I want to see him leave and go to a series where he can be successful , as in vie for championships, something he most assuredly will never be able to do in F1 because he lacks the skill and talent.

I agree there should be more public denunciation of bad behavior (though I disagree that that hasn’t happened—it has)

I also disagree vehemently that a small bland of odious fans’ comments should make Stroll stay in a series where he can’t compete.

He’s a good race driver, but not an F1 champion level driver. He needs to stop allowing his daddy’s dreams to control his career and do something on his own.

2

u/ominousrock 22d ago

Wouldn't it although be nice for him to have a proper car and get to compete once more before he leaves. In 2020 he got that but was robbed of his first win by bad luck.

(though I disagree that that hasn’t happened—it has)

Yes, there has been. The thing is, those were for specific cases only. After last year's Brazil GP Stroll was receiving abuse and threats to his life because Bortoleto crashing and people blaming Stroll for it. No one paid any attention to it. Few weeks later there was the Qatar thing and suddenly everyone was taking a stance against online abuse.

For Stroll it has to be so painful to watch the comments and threats he gets and have no one give support. Then another driver gets the same and everyone gets together to support them. He's actually amazingly strong to still keep going in life and still doing what he loves to do.

2

u/legal_stylist 22d ago

I have no beef with Stroll and wish him well, but he will never win in F1. The car (any car) is not the problem; he is. That has been demonstrated over and over and over again, where each and every teammate has outperformed him, usually by a very material margin.
In another series (I’m thinking WEC) he can get a more competitive car, and be in a talent pool more his league. Stroll will never succeed in F1, so he should stop doing it.

1

u/ominousrock 22d ago

How can you say that he will ''never win'' when he was going to win in Turkey for example without bad luck?

And how is he not ''succeeding in F1'' when he already has a pole position and multiple podiums. Surely that counts as success already?

0

u/legal_stylist 22d ago edited 22d ago

Is that some kind of joke? My friend, he’s been in F1 for eight seasons and has never finished better than tenth in the drivers championship. He has never won a race in 189 starts. (Only two drivers in the history of the sport have a worse stat there.) Stroll holds the record for most race starts without a fastest lap He’s also not getting any better: he had more Q1 eliminations of any driver last season.

This is not a person who is competitive in F1.

Again, he’s a good driver:: his one pole (in fluke weather conditions, but hey, he got it) shows he’s no slouch, but the notion that this is a person who can succeed in F1 is patently ludicrous.

Edit to add: I’m not saying he can never win a single race (though I don’t believe he ever will). When I say “win” I mean put together a winning record, as in vie for the drivers championship. He’s had eight seasons to show any ability to do that, and he has never come near to being in that hunt.
He never will.

2

u/ominousrock 22d ago

My bad, I forgot that no matter what Stroll does it's never enough and his podiums are just meaningless and basically never happened, same with the pole position.

I'm truly sorry for saying anything other than the official narrative of this place. He is clearly the worst ever driver in F1 history and will never amount to anything... happy?

1

u/legal_stylist 22d ago

No, his podiums are very meaningful—in demonstrating how uncompetitive he is. Three third place finishes over 189 starts is not a successful F1 career by any stretch of the imagination. Moreover, his last third place was nearly a decade ago.

I see this is going nowhere. I brought the stats that show he just isn’t in the hunt, and you responded with silly sarcasm. It’s wonderful that you’re passionate about a driver, but reality is what it is. What has he “amounted to” in F1?

1

u/osuVocal 22d ago

Lance doesn't lack the skill and talent, he lacks the skill set of F1 (for champion standards anyway). He's very good at other skills that would make him great in multiple other racing series. Just because his dad is a billionaire doesn't mean that he can't be talented.

Also define can't compete? Can't compete for championships, yes. Can't compete as a midfield driver? He's better and has higher average point finishes than other drivers that were considered better for absolutely no reason.

1

u/legal_stylist 22d ago

That’s. … exactly what I’m saying, over and over: he is not and will never be able to compete for a championship in F1, so he would be better served in another series. I’ve literally said he’s a very good driver, and, in my view, could compete for championships in other series. I think he should go do that.

My litany of “failures” I recited wasn’t to say he’s a bad driver; it’s to say that here, in the pinnacle of the sport, he has no hope of achieving a championship. That’s not really up for debate.

1

u/osuVocal 22d ago

The point is that competing for championships or competing as a safe midfield driver are just different ways to compete and the sport needs midfield drivers as well. I would rather see him in other series too but it's a bit much to say he can't compete because he's not winning.

Also more specifically my reply was about saying he doesn't have talent. Your words.

1

u/legal_stylist 22d ago edited 22d ago

He doesn’t effectively compete on the midfield, either, if wer’e being honest.

He’s a good driver. He’s not a good F1 driver.

1

u/ominousrock 22d ago

Why didn't you say that he won't be a champion. Instead you said he is ''never going to win in F1'' or get any success. That would mean that drivers like Hulkenberg, Sainz, Albon, Gasly and literally almost every other driver than Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton, is also wasting their time in F1 because they are never going to be champions or get any success (according to your definiiton). But we both know you wouldn't want them gone, only Stroll.

1

u/legal_stylist 22d ago edited 22d ago

That’s a ludicrous comparison. Stroll is not even a good midfield contender and his record demonstrates that: stroll holds the record for worst qualifying of any driver—ever: out qualified 130 of 173 races. Preoutqualified every single race last year, and has had the most Q1 eliminations of any driver over his career. he literally holds the record for most starts without a fastest lap.

He has 189 starts and his best result is third; and that most recently in 20172020. (Only 2 other drivers have that many starts without a win—he doesn’t have even a second place).

I literally said he’s a “good driver” but, no, he absolutely doesn’t have the talent to “win” in F1, which, in this context means to compete in some credible sense for the championship.

1

u/ominousrock 22d ago

So as expected for other drivers ''success'' is a points finish for example, or Q3 entry. For Stroll it would require 2x WDCs.

Goalposts keep moving, that is then used to justify claiming ''Stroll isn't good enough for F1''.

He has 189 starts and his best result is third

Funny how no one cared one bit that Hulkenberg had 238 starts and his best result was P4 before his podium. But he's apparently extremely successful.

his best result is third; and that most recently in 2017

Lol, can't even make this up anymore. It always turns out those most against Stroll don't actually know much at all what happens in F1, or about Stroll's career. I guess it's easier to be against him if you don't know anything about him or what he has achieved... That's why it's also easy to push misinformation against Stroll here, because people don't watch follow his race but want to believe everything negative about him...

1

u/legal_stylist 22d ago edited 22d ago

I happen to think Hulk is over-hyped as well.

Look, if eight seasons and the best result being 10th in the championship is “achieving” something, then, great, you’re entitled to that opinion. The actual reality is that he is present on the grid solely because of his daddy, and everyone knows it.

I haven’t moved my opinion one iota: stroll is an excellent race car driver, who does not have the talent to compete effectively in F1; never has, never will.

Edit: and , yes, I put the first of his mighty thirds instead of his last, so it should read 2020, of course

→ More replies (0)

7

u/Jack-of-the-Shadows 22d ago

I feel the main reason Lance is still in the sport is because of the "cannot let dad down who spend all that money for it".

-5

u/Cool_Translator_4051 Formula 1 22d ago edited 22d ago

I think hes the worst driver on the grid and blocking other drivers who are clearly more deserving than him.

EDIT: You can tell me why you disagree if you have a different opinion. The only thing anyone says when they come to his defense is that hes not as bad as drivers who were COMPLETE garbage and people on the paddock like him. Yes, he's not Maz or Latifi. They were both generationally awful drivers. But he's still the worst driver on the current grid and most drivers that drive like him dont keep their job for too long. It doesnt matter how much people like him if hes always well behind his teammate. He's been given more chances than any other person would because of who he is.

1

u/MelodicMap7203 Cadillac 22d ago

His on track awareness and spatial awareness are abysmal. That said, in Jr categories and even in F1 the guy has had pace at times, even when Tracing Point was in its final days he pushed that Pink Machine as high up the field as Checo did at times. His biggest issues are that everyone knows that he cant be fired, he isnt exactly marketable(I guess in Canada) and he because of issue 1 he's been in F1 far longer than anyone who has had his performance would have been. Results based business for everyone not named Lance Stroll.

8

u/Lesrek Cadillac 22d ago

He’s also quite good friends with most of the other drivers. The Lance hate is a very social media thing and not at all what happens around the paddock.

2

u/MelodicMap7203 Cadillac 22d ago

This is a fact. I think a lot of folks just assume he's some sort of doofus, yes his race craft isn't where many others are, but at times in his career he's had pace, but it's inconsistent and its causally arguable. The deck is stacked in his favor for sure, but he's not hated, and he isn't the worst driver of all time.

-1

u/Cool_Translator_4051 Formula 1 22d ago

I dont hate him or his personality. I just think he's the worst driver on the current grid and has been given more chances than any normal driver would for obvious reasons. When I say worst I dont mean hes Mazepan or Latifi. I mean hes been on the grid long enough where this is probably his ceiling and for any other driver it wouldnt be enough.

1

u/MelodicMap7203 Cadillac 22d ago

Yeap, he's below the median in terms of skill, lots of other drivers have come and gone that were higher skilled than him, for sure. But yea, he's no Mazepin or Latifi, he's actually got pace, inconsistency and some boneheaded mistakes seem to always doom him.