#italian gp 2013
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sebastian vettel in the paddock on media day, italy - september 6, 2013
📷 mark thompson / getty
#sebastian vettel#f1#formula 1#italian gp 2013#flashback fic ref#flashback fic ref 2013#italy#italy 2013#italy 2013 friday
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Italian Grand Prix, September 5th 2013 (📷Mark Thompson)
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#2013 italian gp#acc: sebastian vettel#drivers parade 2013 italy#category: formula 1#team: lotus#pic-motorsport magazin#my edit
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been watching ted’s notebooks from 2017 when seb was heavily rumored to be signing a mercedes contract so when i tell you that i yelled at this
#sebastian vettel#f1#junior series seb#italian gp 2023#insta seb…what a world#ok there were the 2011 and 2013 rbrs as well but#also how dumb is it that rbr did not actually see seb to ferrari coming. lol.
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vro0m’s rewatch - 122/304
2013 Italian GP
Round 12!
There's drama at Ferrari. Alonso sarcastically called his engineers "geniuses" over the radio. Although some Italian speaking people are pretty sure he said (I quote because that's not a word I would use myself) "morons". Cue the rumours about him leaving Ferrari.
Also, at Redbull, the team had to change both cars' gear boxes ahead of the race. No penalties, but it's always worrying. Oh come on, really? They're going to perform a 1'000km test in Barcelona for Pirelli. After what happened to Mercedes?! Apparently it's allowed because they're doing it with the 2011 car. Bullshit. And to add to that they're not only testing this year's tyre but also the 2014 one. That's just. Fucking ridiculous.
There's also rumours that Brawn bought out Toto's share of Williams which wouldn't make much sense according to the journalists. Damon Hill asked Brawn about it who reportedly laughed and said that surely he could tell from that laugh that it was ridiculous. To which Hill answered he could in fact not because he's way too mysterious.
Time for the quali report. Oh dear. Lewis was out in Q2. As were both Lotuses. Hulkenberg somehow made it to third on the grid. But it's a Redbull front row with Seb on pole. Nico is 6th behind Alonso, himself outqualified by Massa. Lewis is only 12th.
He still tells us about his lap, explaining why it didn't work.
He went wide actually, and damaged his floor and it fucked the car's balance. Then he got a chance for a second lap and had to slow down because Sutil was in the way. Lewis says he's listened to Sutil's radio and it was not his fault but the fault of the team not telling him Lewis was coming.
Now they change the topic to do a masterclass on overtaking. First is a 2007 overtake over a Ferrari which I do remember from my rewatch actually. He says when he looks at the replay he still feels like he's not gonna make it but he did.
Then it's Seb from the outside over Alonso. Lewis says Alonso could have squeezed him out but he left him room.
Basically it shows how important it is to know who you're racing against.
Then it's a DRS overtake from Perez on Alonso and Lewis describes how fast you get with the DRS and how very little you can do to defend against that.
It's started to rain.
There's a problem with Jenson's car, the floor is off. It's KERS-related. As they're leaving the garages, the rain is easing off.
Formation lap.
And they're racing!
Good start for the two Redbulls but the two ferraris are just behind them swerving like agitated wasps. Seb locks up into turn 1! But he stays ahead, THERE'S BEEN CONTACT Webber is behind Alonso now many people cut the chicane. It's MESSY. Perez slows down. No wait, it's actually Massa in P2, not Alonso! Where's Lewis. Di Resta DNF. OOOH whoop Raikkonen, Lewis and Jenson are side-by-side in the straight but Lewis comes out ahead! He's in the points. Raikkonen pits ? Oh yeah he has front wing damage. The yellow flags keep flashing on and off lol I don't know what's happening. Alonso is attacking Webber. He overtakes him honestly quite impressively. Alonso overtakes Massa in an obviously too easy way. Lewis is closing on whoever is P9. It's JEV. He overtakes him but is overtaken right away. He's also under pressure from Jenson. Who overtakes him! Lewis is back in P11… well he's on hard tyres unlike all of them, he'll stay out longer but will it work out? Seb has serious issues with his rear tyres apparently, after the lock up at the start.
On lap 10 Lewis is now losing on Jenson. He is told to box, he has a slow puncture! Aw fuck. It's fucks up the whole strategy. Also he has radio issues and they can't hear him. But he does not come in. And still not. They tell him again. Does his radio not work in the other way as well? This time he does pit for mediums. He's now down in 19th… JEV DNFs. It's lap 20.
Lewis is up in 15th. 14th. He sets the fastest lap. Seb pits from the lead. Webber pits. Lewis P12. Pit stops ongoing. Lewis P8 chasing Rosberg for P7. Done.
We're on lap 30 already. Lewis sets another fastest lap. Let's take a second. Seb is back in the lead, Alonso is now less than 10 seconds behind already. Then it's Webber, Massa, Hulkenberg, and Lewis is P6. It's cloooose, P5! Of course he'll have to stop again, probably soon. But for now it's another fastest lap. Ah the mechanics were in the pit but he didn't come in. The radio issues again I guess. He does pit this time. He's out in 14th.
Lap 40. 13 laps to go. Webber has issues with his car. 10 laps to go. Seb also has issues with his car. They're gearbox related. Lewis overtakes Gutierrez for P12. 9 laps to go. Wait? Lewis still P13… now he overtakes Sutil for P12. Weird. 8 laps to go. KERS problems for Raikkonen, under pressure from Lewis. 6 laps to go. He overtakes him with 5 laps to go. 4 laps to go, and he's up in the points after overtaking Perez! 3 laps to go. He overtakes Jenson for P9, unbelievable. Final lap… come on… Ah he overtook Grosjean but cut the chicane so he gave the place back.
It's the end of the race.
Seb wins. Webber and Raikkonen stop their cars in the pit straight because of how bad they're doing. Lewis P9.
Lewis says the radio problems started lap 1. Pinkham asks how much of an impact it had. He frowns. "Well it's erm…" he sighs. "It's almost like, it almost blinds you a little bit, you know? You just don't know what's happening in the race, I didn't know when to stop."
He says of course there are pit boards (the journalists were discussing it during the race when he didn't come in when he was supposed to) but he finds them confusing, there's so many of them. You also don't know when to push and to not push, when to switch the settings. He says it was more on him, without the help it's a bit trickier (slight smile) "but I managed, so it was cool." Natalie says 9th place doesn't do him justice in terms of the entertainment he gave and the pace of the car (he set the fastest lap of the race). "Yeah, I mean…" he says slowly "the team did a great job and I didn't deliver this weekend." (Big sigh.) "I gotta go away and reset and try to recover in the next race."
She asks if he's encouraged by the pace of the car. He answers he believes it'll be doing well once they go back to the high downforce circuits. He's looking forward to it.
About the rumours on Brawn buying in Williams, Ted says "so many people have denied this I'm starting to believe that it's true."
There's also a whole montage of Lewis overtakes because he's just that good.
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Some at the team knew he was the man for the job, but Charles Leclerc's procurement of a seat relied on a neat bit of manoeuvring in order for their boss to agree to a deal.
We're not talking here about the delay that followed Sergio Marchionne's death before Leclerc gained a 2019 Ferrari Formula 1 drive, rather his maiden season of car racing in the '14 Formula Renault ALPS series.
Fortec Motorsport engineer Martin Young knew all about the talents of the 16-year-old Monegasque driver.
"My background is in karting," he explains. "I used to work for the factory teams in Italy. I knew the drivers to watch from karting would be Max Verstappen, Ben Barnicoat and Charles Leclerc, and Fortec wanted to run teams in Eurocup, NEC and ALPS."
It's worth explaining here that in those days Formula Renault 2.0 operated as a pyramid structure, with the Eurocup at the top, and the Dutch-promoted Northern European Cup and Italian-run ALPS series as the base. Fortec was already established in Eurocup and NEC, but was venturing into ALPS for the first time.
"At the time it looked like Verstappen would be doing Eurocup, and we had Ben signed for NEC," continues Young. "I spoke to Jamie Dye [Fortec managing director] and said that if we wanted to move forward in ALPS we needed to get Leclerc.
"We did a test day at Motorland [Aragon] and we sort of lied about his times - we'd put Charles up against a lot of experienced drivers, so he was 1.2-1.3 seconds off - so that Richard [Dutton, team principal] would stay interested in giving him a bit of a deal. Richard was asking, 'Is he really good?', and we said, 'Yeah, we know he's really good.'"
Barnicoat, now a factory McLaren GT racer, was already familiar with Leclerc - as a Racing Steps Foundation protege, he was part of the ART Grand Prix line-up in international karting in 2012 and '13, while Leclerc belonged (and still does) to the All Road Management stable of ART shareholder Nicolas Todt.
"I had two years as team-mate to him in karting," says Barnicoat. "The first year I was directly racing with him, and in the second he went into gearbox [KZ] karts. He was one of the best team-mates I ever had, if not the best. A great guy.
"That first year, Charles won the WSK series and I won the European championship - that was up against the likes of Verstappen, so the competition was extremely high. I feel sort of left out!
"He had a bit more track knowledge so in the first half of the year he was beating me, but then we pushed each other really hard and that worked for the team - we got a lot from that.
"Looking at how good he is, it's nice to know I beat him on occasions, to know that I had the talent and ability to do that."
Fortec was one of the teams that tested Verstappen, and was also eyeing a deal with another talented karter: George Russell, whose plan was to combine Renault ALPS with what was then BRDC Formula 4.
Russell, who now is on course to succeed Leclerc as Formula 2 champion, eventually joined Prema Powerteam for ALPS, but that deal fell over on the eve of the season and he secured a last-minute berth at Koiranen GP.
"We wanted George; we tried to sign him," says Dutton of what could have been a mighty line-up had Russell joined Leclerc. "But he signed for Prema and then [Lawrence] Stroll [who had taken a majority shareholding in Prema] stopped him from going there."
"Me and Charles were testing for Fortec," says Russell, "and at the same time Verstappen was there with Josef Kaufmann Racing, I think. We were in talks with Fortec, but we decided to sign with Prema."
When it's pointed out what a mega line-up that would have been alongside Leclerc, Russell laughs: "In hindsight that could have worked out better for me than Koiranen. That [the late Prema split] put us in the shit a little bit, and three weeks before the first race I didn't have a deal. We took the gamble on Koiranen."
Autosport reminds Dutton of an awards evening over the 2013-14 winter when, asked about Russell, he said: "We've got someone even better - a lad from Monaco..."
"It was really quite a late deal," recalls Dutton. "He missed most of the winter-test programme. But you just knew he was the real deal. In and out of the car he knew what he wanted. In lots of ways he reminded us of Verstappen when we tested him."
Young confirms that the sum total of Leclerc's pre-season mileage was four days at Aragon, and two at Barcelona, before going straight into the pre-weekend test for the Imola opener.
"The first three race weekends his experience was a bit low," says Young, "but as soon as he got on the podium he was there every weekend.
Leclerc went on to finish runner-up to the flying - and experienced - Nyck de Vries in the ALPS points, with two race wins at Monza under his belt, but perhaps the more impressive performances came in his three 'wildcard' outings in the Eurocup. The first was at Spa, one week before the Belgian track's ALPS round.
"He was 30th in qualifying at the Eurocup," says Dutton. "We changed everything - we couldn't understand what the hell was going on. One week later he qualified third for ALPS. That was really, really special."
In his next Eurocup outing, Leclerc took a fifth and a second at the Nurburgring, and in his final one he took a brace of seconds at the Hungaroring.
"I was looking after Matt Parry and Jack Aitken in Eurocup," says long-time Fortec driver coach Matt Howson. "I'd heard [Leclerc] was something maybe a bit special, but you hear that all the time, and wait until you see it yourself.
"Usually you understand the driving style straight away - what's good, what's bad - and the thing with Charles is it didn't matter whether there was understeer or oversteer, he seemed to deliver a lap time."
The cerebral approach of Leclerc and engineer Young frustrated Howson at the Nurburgring.
"He'd never seen the place, and there were only two 45-minute [test] sessions, and furthermore Martin was determined to try things on the car," says Howson.
"I said, 'Don't do it, leave him out'. He was last in the second session, and then he was P3 on the grid for the second race - that's unheard of in Eurocup [for a newcomer]. Renault is a very finicky formula, and it all has to come together to deliver results, but Charles seemed impervious to everything.
"Based on that first year, I knew he was a little bit special. Whenever he was tested in Eurocup, he defied his experience. That's a marker - that you can break all the accepted rules."
Talking about that Nurburgring episode, Young says: "That literally sums up Charles Leclerc. That year we were struggling in Eurocup, and I said I'd come in with Charles and we'd do some testing. Going into qualifying he'd never run new tyres, but he went from last to the front. Nothing ever fazed him."
In Young's view, he also compared favourably to Lando Norris, who tested FRenault cars with Fortec in 2014 before his first steps into single-seaters: "I worked with Lando towards the end of the year, and Lando eventually got to the same point [as Leclerc] but needed a lot of testing, but Charles could just get in and drive. It was second nature to him."
Russell took a distant fourth in the ALPS standings, although he did claim the 2014 BRDC F4 title.
"With Nyck winning the championship it didn't make any sense to me, but I think at the time there were a few dodgy chassis around," he says. "When I tested Nyck's car it was extremely different in terms of characteristics. I wasted a season there, but it was character-building."
He also suffered from chicken pox that caused him to miss the Monza round, where Leclerc took his two wins.
"I didn't think it affected me at the time, but I struggled a bit for no reason in the following few F4 races," says Russell. "It was quite severe - I've still got some bad scars. I put my family off their dinner a few times!"
But Russell trumped Leclerc by joining Tech 1 Racing for the final Eurocup round at Jerez as a wildcard - and winning: "I got my self-confidence back a bit, jumped in that car and won."
Both Russell and Leclerc had initially targeted a full season in Eurocup in 2015, but such were their reputations by the end of '14 that each went to the Formula 3 European Championship, Russell with Carlin, and Leclerc with Van Amersfoort Racing.
Fortec tried to hang on to Leclerc for F3. "We tried so hard to get him for F3, but we lost him to VAR," says Dutton. "We did some tests with him in the F3 car and he was straight on the pace. At Silverstone he was quickest of everybody there, and then we went to Valencia with him and we had a nightmare with mechanical issues. I think that didn't do us any good."
All who worked or raced with Leclerc agree about his qualities as a man.
"Of all the drivers in F1 who've come through us, Charles is the one who gets [guest] passes for the British Grand Prix," says Dutton. "He had Martin [Young] and Jamie [Dye] there this year the whole weekend, in Sauber hospitality. He's a proper guy."
"I still speak to Charles every week or so on various topics," adds Young, who attended Leclerc's initial grand prix free practice outings in 2016. "He's still exactly the same person."
Barnicoat, who is one of the drivers for the McLaren hot laps at F1 events, bumps into Leclerc regularly.
"When we raced against each other in Renault there was quite a lot of rivalry from what we'd had in karting," says the Briton, who added three 'wildcard' ALPS outings as direct team-mate to Leclerc to his title-winning NEC campaign.
"But it would have been nice to get more direct comparisons. In 2013, when we were in karting, I went to the grand prix with him in Monaco and stayed on his uncle's boat, and had a really good time. We spent a lot of time together, and although we were rivals we helped each other out. He was a good friend of mine and still is."
Leclerc is also resilient. "Jules Bianchi came to the Hungaroring Eurocup round to mentor him," says Howson, "and I understood then how close they were. After that incident [for Bianchi] and his father [who died in mid-2017], he's probably been tested off track more than anyone else, but it's not bled over into anything on track.
"He's incredibly mature. He's relatively introverted - he doesn't come in and make lots of noise, but he's polite, considerate and always looks you in the eye when he talks to you. It doesn't matter whether he's got loads of cameras on him, he'll always come over for a chat."
Russell, meanwhile, is "100%" sure that Leclerc will flourish at Ferrari.
"Charles is one of a handful of others I put in the best-of-the-best group," he says. "In my opinion he absolutely deserves his chance at Ferrari. He's got the speed and the talent, and I'm excited to see how he fares next year. I've no doubt that he will be competitive."
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2015 Malaysian GP, Sepang International Circuit - Thursday press conference:
English:
journalist: Why all the ones who idolise you, end up being different?
VR46: Did he really idolise me? Did he really have my poster at home? I'm not so sure. I'd like to go back in time and see.
Italian:
giornalista: Perché tutti quelli che ti idolatrano, alla fine si rivelano diversamente?
VR46: Attenzione, qui bisogna fare una precisazione: era vero che mi idolatrava?
Aveva per davvero il mio poster a casa? lo
non ne sono così sicuro. Mi piacerebbe
andare a vedere indietro nel tempo.
Cervera, 2012-2013:
well, here's your time machine Vale...
//
full 2012 Marc interview:
youtube
full 2013 documentary:
youtube
#motogp#marc marquez#mm93#valentino rossi#vr46#9346#4693#sepang 2015#2015#2015 does not exist#but sadly it does#rosquez#my roman empire
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I hereby present you one of the greatest moments of f1 Italian television, now in gif format
[Nico Rosberg post race interview, Japanese GP 2013]
#formula 1#f1blr#nico rosberg#I quote this daily#He also has a really strong accent from Milan while he talks here
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(pt 2) Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are interviewed by Tom Clarkson for the BBC in 2013 at the Japanese GP
Who takes the longest to get ready in the morning?
Lewis: Such a liar man, he's got a lot of hair man.
Nico: Until you've got.. until you've got your hair done in the morning it takes ages.
Lewis: Goldilocks here, Br-br-britney here is always doing his hair man it takes forever.
Who eats the most?
Nico: What?
Lewis: You eat a lot
Nico: I think it was a close thing back in the day. We would go for pizza competitions. One funny story actually is though, we had the - I"ll just throw in there. We had the first test for the first test as teammates - new team, new company, new everything. We go out and I go out first and Lewis comes out behind. And it was a bit rainy overnight and the track was dry except for one patch which was just before the pit entry. I get to that patch and I go flying into the tyre barriers flat out.
Lewis: Destroyed the car! (laughs)
Nico: Already that was so embarrassing for me, really first lap out destroyed the kart in the barriers. And then I get out of the kart and I see this dude arriving you know and I'm like "oh no! oh no!" and he hits the same patch as me and goes flying out and hits my kart which is in the barriers.
Lewis: The karts were parked together
Nico: Both karts were parked together.
Lewis: Mine's in front and it was like -
Nico: on top of each other kind of thing. completely destroyed and I must say there was a little tiny smile that actually arrived also on my face. Not only the disappointment that he managed to do the same stupid thing as me.
Lewis: Yeah it was funny. We got in a lot of trouble.
Who's the cleverest?
Lewis: I'd give him that one because he speaks five languages and that's-that's taking the mick. So, our whole life when we got together when we were younger he used to go in and out of these languages when we were around some French people some Italians some Germans. He'd always tell me the wrong thing.
Tom: Is that true?
Nico: Most definitely.
Who's the bigger party animal?
Nico: What are you talking about?
Lewis: Man, you are hardcore.
Nico: We're not going into any details right now right?
Lewis: (laughs) Definitely not.
#nico rosberg#lewis hamilton#japanese gp 2013#f1 2013#japan 2013#suzuka 2013#interview#video#brocedes#karting tales
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sebastian vettel in the garage on practice day, italy - september 6, 2013
📷 mark thompson / getty
#sebastian vettel#f1#formula 1#italian gp 2013#flashback fic ref#flashback fic ref 2013#italy#italy 2013#italy 2013 friday
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Four wheels and a helmet - Racing events that aren't all karting.
With the thrill of watching races like the 24hr of Le Mans or the British Grand Prix come statements like, ‘what does racing feel like.’ and ‘I bet I can do that’. But unfortunately not everyone has a multi-million pound hypercar, years of training and a specialist team at hand. So how can a motorsports fanatic experience the rush of racing?
This is where Track Days and races like the 24hr of LeMons come in.
Created from comments passed over picnic blankets and coffee tables, these races give the average motorsports enthusiast the chance to experience racing as a driver. America offers amateur endurance races, Europe focusing on short distance racing with many different ‘cars’. Track days are as exhilarating as races with the added bonus of being able to drive around your favourite track as fast as you want.
Fans of endurance & Rally races will enjoy the 24hr of LeMons; a series of races taking place on street circuits in America. The 24hr of Lemons (styled a LeMons, a clever tribute to Le Mans) focuses on budget racing, with negative points awarded to cars above the $500 limit. The do-it-yourself attitude to the race is part of its charm. The less likely for your car to cross the line, the more likely you are to win an additional cash prize. Grab a friend (or include the whole family), a car that can cross the line and jump into 24hrs of pure driving. The organisers of LeMons also host a rally, with a separate trophy for Rental Cars. Earn points in the Lemon Rally with the age of your car, where it was manufactured and by meeting certain criteria laid out in the Route book.
For fans of the unusual, races like British Tractor Pulling and Piaggio Ape Racing are two main points of interest. Tractor pulling is not a race in the conventional sense, instead of racing tractors, the aim is to pull a weight transfer sledge over a distance of 100m, the fastest tractor is the winner. With twelve classes, Tractor Pulling is a great sport for those who have access to a tractor or have the drive to build one themselves. Piaggio Ape Racing is an Italian affair, the three-wheeled trucks hailing from Pisa. The roots of Piaggio Racing are firmly in Italy, with the sport reaching the UK in 2013. Piaggio Racing is straight-forward, drive the truck as fast as you can and reach the finish line first. The British Ape GP was held on the Rye House Raceway and now you and a friend can race the Piaggio around the track.
For those who don’t want to race but want the experience of driving, Track Days are the best fit. Iconic circuits such as Brands Hatch and the Nürburgring offer Track Days, just bring yourself, your car and push yourself to the limit!
There are so many options to experience and suitable for many different budgets. From grassroot sports just starting out to historic circuits, take you pick and jump into Motorsports from a whole new angle.
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Hello people it's me. After struggling how to do this, here's finally how I am uploading my post about Lance's F1 career.
I decided to hit you guys with the qualy comparisons of him and his teammates first and foremost. It's just data where I highlight the Qualifyings he did better in but I thought it would be nice to see how far of he actually was.
Before going into my very long rant (about 8000 words) that I tried to keep as objective as possible I do want to note that of course there will be personal opinions and comments throughout as I am also just human and a fan as well. And with that note, let's dive in
Lance Stroll's journey to F1 and the question of why he is
probably one of the most underrated drivers on the current grid
Lance career began in 2008 when he first started carting. During 2008 and 2009 he won multiple
championships in the Canadian junior category. 2010 saw him winning the Rotax Mini Max of the
Florida winter Tour. In that same year he was signed on by the Ferrari driver academy. Considering
he was only 11 at the time and had basically only just started carting, that was a huge deal. Yes not
every signed driver by Ferrari makes it blah blah but they made it very clear that they saw potential
in him and wanted him to be racing in Europe for them. So, 2011 saw Lance first time competing in
European championships. In one of those he was 9th for example. The just mentioned WSK-Euro
Series in KF3 saw some familiar drivers such as the winner, Max Verstappen. Some other names
that might sound family for example P2 would be Esteban Ocon or George Russell in P7.
2012 and
2013 saw him once again in many carting championships before he started Formula racing in 2014.
He competed in the Florida Winter series where he got a pole and two podiums once again up
against Max and drivers such as Tatiana Calderón or Antonio Fuoco. But most importantly from
that year, he won the Italian F4 championship by nearly a hundred points.
2015 saw him competing in the European F3 championship where he finished 5th after the following
drivers (all names many of you will be family with): Jake Dennis, Charles Leclerc, Felix
Rosenquvist and Antonio Giovinazzi. That same year also saw him finishing 8th in the Macau GP
behind once again driver such as Charles Leclerc and Felix Rosenquivst. He also in that year won
the Toyota racing series by over a hundred points. This year he also left the Ferrari driver program
and joined the Williams academy. He became their development driver for 2016.
In 2016 he once again competed in the F3 to this time win it by a nearly 200 point advantage. P2
saw Maximilian Günther and P3 was none other than George Russell. He also raced the Daytona 24
Hours where his team finished 5th overall.
Before we move on F1, I do feel the need to address something that has been brought up multiple
times. The rumours that Lance had a better car because his father was rich, that his team-mates
never had a chance etc. I think that is complete bullshit and frankly manly used to underline his
talent. Even with the best car, the worst driver would do something wrong. Sure you can call him
mid but considering the huge gap he had in his second year, I think it's fair to say he had talent in
him. Also the fact that Felix regularly comments on Lance posts does not seem like there is any bad
will against him. Yes, he had better equipment etc. to win but the way he wrapped up the season still
speaks to his talent.
2017- The start of it all
Lance started his F1 career in 2017 with Williams. His team mate then was Felipe Massa. This was
a huge leap considering Lance short experience with Formula racing and it was understandably
questioned. Nonetheless 2017 saw him starting alongside Felipe who jumped into that seat after Val
signed with Mercedes following Nico's retirement. I think it is also noteworthy to mention here that
in 2016 he already was a development driver for them so there was always the probability for him
to drive. I personally think he could and should have done another year in Formula racing (F2) but
that is my own opinion. What people however also seem to forget is that will it might have been to
early for him in F1, he did have a bit of experience as the Williams development driver. And
considering that they had just lost Val who looked like one of the youngest and most promising
drivers on that grid, it made sense for them to search for another young driver for their team.
He made his depute in the Australian GP. During that third free practice, he crashed as he was going
too fast which then resulted in him having a penalty (he qualified last.) At the race start he gained
about 7 places before he had brake issues and had to retire the car.
His second race saw him qualifying tenth but immediately taken out on the first lap by Sergio
(could be argued for a race incident but I think there's more blame on Perez.)
Now, his third race same him time wise qualify closer to his team mate but only in 12th place. In the
race he flat spotted his tyre and did an early pitstop before his collision with Sainz. (Sainz came out
of the pit lane very quick and just dive bombed into him. He was behind even after exiting the pit
lane so Sainz should have waited for Lance to drive past.)
Russia finally saw a turn around in his luck. He once again qualified 12th and finished the race in
P11. His fifth race after that saw him just mere 3 tenth off his team mate but sadly out in Q1 and
overall he finished P16.
Monaco saw him crash out in FP2 and qualify 18th. He got up to 15th and then later in the race had to
retire because of overheating brakes. Luck once again not on his side.
Canada finally saw a change when he not only qualified 7th but managed to come 9th in the race. He
finally scored his first points in his home race.
Then Azerbaijan happened and for the first time ever Lance out-qualified his team mate and got 8th.
But that is nothing compared to the drive he managed to pull off in that race. He wasn't the quickest
but he once again proved that sometimes just consistently driving is enough to get into a good
position and then profit from it. Many of the top teams drivers dropped out due to penalties or
problems but that doesn't discredit Lance consistent drive in the top 10 which managed to get him a
podium spot. Incredible how he managed to keep a gap and his place and only just missed out
because of Val in the last corners. If not for that he would have gotten P2. A great race from him.
Next race once again not a great Qualifying in P18 but still managed P10. The first two laps saw
Lance move up to P11 and then hang around that most of the race.
Next race he qualified 16h (penalty moving him up 1 place) and dropped to 16th .
The next race he qualified 17th and finished 14th. His qualifying was hindered by Kvyat.
After that he got once again unlucky and because off a damaged rear wing was only able to set one
lap which meant he qualified 18th and finished just outside the points in 11th.
Then, something I feel like many people also don't know, Lance started the next race as the
youngest driver ever on the front row (he originally qualified only 4th but penalties of both RedBull
drivers put him up to second place.) During that entire qualifying he was only slightly off from the
top 3 teams. Did he drop back during the race? Yes, he only finished 7th but you have to consider
that his car did not have the race pace to compete with any of the three top teams and he wasn't even
in the best midfield car.
Side note, this was a wet qualifying and just behind him was Esteban. Funnily enough that changed
in the race where he and Esteban where the best mid field drivers behind the top teams.
The next race yet again saw him qualify 18th and yet he finished the race in 8th. A chaotic race with
many DNFs saw Williams massively profit, especially Lance.
After that the following race saw him qualify 13th and once again finish 8th.
After that another qualifying in 18th. That race saw Lance up to 11th before he sadly went off and
then seemed to struggle with the car. After that he ultimately failed to finish as a result of a puncture
on his front wheel.
In the US GP he qualified 17th as a result of a penalty for him hindering Romain. The race saw him
finish 11th, just outside of the points.
Mexico saw him qualify 12th and finish in 6th. A great race from him where he was in the top 5 until
Seb overtook him.
After that he once again qualified 18th and finished 16th. He was two laps down after a problem with
a front tyre. The last race saw him qualifying 15th and he finished 18th
.
Another incident that many like to blame him for here is the post-race crash with Seb. Bizarre but
truly only because it seems like neither is really fully at fault. Also, if this is one of the only things
you can use against a driver, maybe you might want to reconsider if he truly is such a bad driver.
Anyways, I still put a video here for anyone that is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRAN9pzdwsw
So, what does that mean for his first F1 season?
Well, his qualifying besides Imola you could argue was lacking pace and I absolutely will agree that
it was bad. Then again what would you expect in someone's first F1 season, especially when up
against a solid driver like Massa? Still, his qualifying definitely should have been better, I will
agree. He was too inconsistent and too far off.
In comparison to Massa he seemingly could make up places more easily though.
All of the negatives are clearly overshadowed by the fact that in his first F1 season he was only 3
points behind his team-mate with double the amount of DNFs.
Not to mention that he not only is one of the youngest podium sitters but he is also the youngest
front row starter (All in his first season.)
He had 4 DNFs of which he was not at fault for anyone of those (maybe in the racing incident but
then again I see the blame more at Perez side than anyone else’s.)
Yes he had about 3 free practices were he crashed then again he is was a rookie. Sure it's not great
but accidents like that happen especially when you are not only new to the car but the entire form of
racing.
So, all in all if you look at his statistics:
For his first season he managed a podium, a front row start and 6 points finishes in maybe the 6th
best car? He finished just three points behind his team-mate in 12th (with 40 points) in the overall
standing. His average Qualifying position was 14 and his average race finish was 11th.
Considering he had no F1 experience, had only been racing in Formula championships for 3 years
at that point and was up against Felipe Massa who is still regarded very highly, I would say he did
quiet al-right.
If anyone is interested in his DNFs, so you can form your own opinion:
Sadly I can't find a video of his first incident but the race is easy to find.
Here is him and Perez https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka11N-hLshE
Here is a video of him and Sainz colliding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDNGfCTpJpQ
This was in China where he had a puncture on his front wheel (Also he could barely avoid Daniel
since it is hard to steer when your wheel is like that yet he still managed to not make it into a big
incident which I think deserves some credit)
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/japan-
2017-lance-strolls-puncture/907887256034924/
2018- a season to forget
Now in 2018, without a doubt there was a huge step back which is because that car was truly not it.
I would say it was the worst car on the grid, therefore you should take these results as the lest
credible. That Williams wasn't predictable in many ways and you could probably name this as the
season the team went downhill. With Sergey as a new teammate and Lance only a year in F1, there
also was the problem with having inexperienced drivers to give feedback for that car and lead the
team.
In the opening race he qualified 14th and finished in that same position. After that he qualified 20th
and finished 14th again. China saw him 18th and once again finish 14th
.
Then he just merely missed out on 10th and qualified 11th and somehow managed to get into the
points at 8th. I should mention however that this race saw may DNFs but I think he still did a good
job with that car.
Spain saw him 19th but he managed to finish 11th in that race. Again capitalizing from DNF but still
impressive considering he qualified behind his teammate.
His bad qualifying continued with 18th and saw him finish in 17th
.
Sadly at his home race it wasn't much better with a 17th place and DNF after a collision with
Brendon Hartley. France saw him qualify last again and DNF as a result of a tyre blow out.
After that he finally managed to get into Q2 again, qualifying 15th and finishing in 14th , getting a
10-second penalty for ignoring blue flags.
In Great Britain Lance had to start from the pit lane because parts of his car were changed and still
managed to finish 12th. Once again he was able to profit from some unfortunate DNFs but still a
good drive.
In the 11th race he qualified 19th and once again had a DNF as a result of a problem with his brakes
(They retired the car during a safety car period).
The next race saw him qualify 15th but start from the pit lane due to changes under Parc-fermé
which meant he only finished 17th. Spa saw him qualify 19th again and finish 13th.
Monza finally brought good results in a 10th place in Qualy and a 9th place finish. He was nearly the
best of the rest in a car that somehow just seemed to work on that track. Probably his best race of
that season. A great drive.
After that he qualified 20h again and finished 14th. Once again making up places and outplacing his
teammate.
Russia saw him last in Qualifying and 15th in the race. Then he qualified 14th and finished 17th.
The US GP saw him qualify 18th and finish 14th. Qualifying in Mexico saw Lance 19th again but he
finished the race in 12th.
That picture didn't really change much in Brazil where he once again was 19th and finished 18th. And
the season didn't really end on a high. Qualifying last and finishing in 13th.
So, how can we sum this up?
Well, even though this season was arguably his worst he still somehow got 6 points which is 5 more
than his team mate Sergei Sirotkin. While his Qualifying still was lacking(an average of 17), it is
still impressive that with that car he managed to have an average race finishing position of 13th. It is
also notable that he was often times making up at least 3 places in his races where he finished
higher which given the struggle that car seemed to be is worthy of noting. In comparison to his
team-mate it is clear that Lance struggles in Qualy but consistently finishes in a similar position.
Out of the two of them he also managed to get multiple points finishes even though he qualified
further back, something which I would argue is a strength of him. Yes most of their points finishes
were as a result of the others misfortune but still, they had to capitalize during these races and most
of that did come from Lance. Also, quiet a bit of Qualy saw him closer to his teammate.
Here's the DNFs for anyone that is interested:
Canada was arguably the biggest one where I understand why people might blame Lance but seeing
how unpredictable that oversteer was and how he struggled with the car I would say it was more a
racing incident than anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPn_GCa3mU
The tyre blow out in France https://twitter.com/F1/status/1010997824928878592
There isn't anything about Germany but watching the race you will see them retire the car towards
the end.
2019- a season of change
Lance went to Racing Point and now has Sergio Perez as his team mate. Obviously with Lawrence
buying RP and saving that team as well as Esteban losing his seat, Lance was not at all well
received and already was guaranteed to be heavily judged, more so than what would have likely
been fair. While I do get that point of Esteban losing his seat, I would also argue that the team of
Sergio and Esteban was clearly not working and would have in the long run probably cost that team
more points than they liked so I think there also is a tactical reason behind it.
In Australia he qualifies 16th but what people don't remember is that in Q1 he and Checo were only
separated by less than a tenth of a second. That race sees Lance finishing 9th. After managing his
tyres longer than Perez he managed to stay in the top 10,even closing in to 8th while having to keep
others behind.
The second race of the season sees Lance qualifying 18th and finishing 14th. Next race Lance
qualifies 16th and finished 12th.
The fourth race sees Lance qualify 16th and finishing 9th. He made up a flew places and was even
closing in at the end.
Spain sees Lance qualify 17th and not finishing after coming together with Lando.
The next race saw Lance qualifying 18th just behind Sergio and ultimately finishing 16th.
Lance home race once again sees him qualify 18th just under a tenth behind Sergio. He manages to
finish in 9th place. Just going to add this little video that quickly shows some of the moves he made .
A great race for him.
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/canada-2019-stroll-puts-on-a-show-for-his-home-
fans/824107727965322/
The 8th race sees him in 18th but he manages to finish the race in 13th, just a place behind Sergio.
Austria once again sees Lance just a tenth behind Sergio in 17th and that race he finishes in 14th.
Something very similar happens the next race when Lance is just about a tenth of Sergio and
qualifies 18th. That race he finishes 13th.
The German GP sees Lance finally in Q2 in 15th place. That race he comes 4th. An incredible drive
to the surprise of many considering this is a wet race where a lot of drivers got themselves out of
podium positions. Yes he was leading that race for a short while and was potentially on for a
podium but I don't think there is any way he could have beaten that Ferrari or RedBull/Toro Rosso
package who just seemed more dominant. Yeah sure you could argue what would have happened
but the fact was, Racing Point made the smartest decision that race and got the maximum points
thanks to Lance driving.
After that great race he qualifies 19th and finishes 17th.
In Belgium he qualifies 13th but due to changes of car parts starts from the back. Despite that he still
finishes that race in 10th place.
The next race he finally manages to outqualify Sergio by quiet a margin and gets himself into Q3
and 9th place. Sadly he drops back to 12th in the race.
In Singapore he once again is less than a tenth behind Sergio in Q1 but sadly only manages P16.
During that race he gets up to 13th place.
Russia sees him P15 (P14 after a penalty for Pierre) and then up to P11. He just missed out on
points.
In Japan he once again outqualifies Sergio and get P12, managing to climb up to P9. He finished
just behind Checo.
Mexico saw him 16th and getting up to 12th.
In the US GP Lance once again by a huge margin manages to outqualify Sergio and gets 14th place.
In the race he finishes 13th. In Brazil he qualifies 17th and DNFs. The last race sees him qualify 13th
and sadly not finishing.
This was an incident at Monza that many like to use against Lance where Seb clearly rejoins the
track in an unsafe manner causing Lance to nearly crash. Lance does it similarly and I agree that it
was stupid from him but also Lance clearly was on the racing line and his engineers should have
told him who was coming from behind as every driver would want to go back into the race and
away from the racing line. You can clearly see by the speed of the cars behind that the field was
close together. Still not a good manoeuvre from Lance but in my opinion different from Seb.
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2019-italian-grand-prix-vettel-and-stroll-collide-at-
monza/269709670687851/
So what can we say about Lance's season?
I think he showed a step up in Qualy. If you look at his and Checo's times in most Q1s they were
often less than 3 tenths apart and they were times when Lance was even less than a tenth off. I think
he was still inconsistent but his Qualifying definitely improved. And I think the big points gap is
largely down to Lance qualifying further back. You can see that there are quiet a few races where
they made up the same places but because Lance qualified further back so he got less points.
Then again you have to question how much of their points or performance difference might be
down to Checo having been with the team for a longer time and being a more experienced driver.
Did he outperform the car? Did Lance underperform? I think you can see progress here from Lance
and I think many people misjudge their points difference. You also have to see that Lance in that
year could have gotten a podium and scored the teams highest result. If you round their averages,
Lance qualifies 15/16th place and finishes 12 while Sergio qualifies around 12/13th place and has an
average finish of 10th
.
Here's the DNFs for anyone that wants to check them out:
This is Lance and Lando. Honestly, for me a pure racing incident. Lance didn't expect Lando to
make a move there, Lando might have been a bit too enthusiastic with that manoeuvre. I wouldn't
put blame on one of them, just a simply misjudgement and miscommunication that cost both of
them the race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.spanish-gp-norris-stroll-clash-brings-out-
the-safety-car.6060938080001.html
In Brazil he ran over debrief and as a result of that might have broken his front suspension.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.brazilian-gp-stroll-retires-with-front-suspension-damage.1687522499774886264.html
In Abu Dhabi there is firstly a first lap incident which damages his car. I can see fault on his part but
I also think that this is just a typical first lap incident that is unfortunate. I couldn't exactly find a
clip where it shows him retiring but ultimately a brake issue forced him to retire.
2020 and the story of what could have been
Oh 2020 my behated. Lance is still with Racing Point and still has Sergio as a team mate.
The first race saw him qualify 9th and than immediately out of the race. He had to retire with engine
issues and could have possibly scored points had that not happened (he would have likely been P8
or P9.) The next race saw qualify 13th and finish 7th just behind Sergio. An incredible drive that saw
him defending his position until the line quiet literally.
Hungary saw him start from P3, an incredible Qualifying and finish P4, just behind the Mercedes
and Max. He was basically a top driver during that weekend. There was no better result to achieve.
The British GP after that ended with him in P9 after starting P6.
In the Anniversary GP he started P6 and finished in P6.
The sixth race saw him start from P5 and finish in P4. Once again being the best outside of the
expected top 3.
It continued so well with a start and finish of P9 in Spa.
It got even better when Monza came and Lance managed P3 after starting P8. Yes, he did throw
away a potential win but I am certain that he would have been overtaken by Sainz anyway because
he had more speed that weekend with the McLaren package so I don't think he could have ever
finished higher than P2.
And then it went downhill with Mugello, kick-starting the “What ifs”. From P6 (he moved up after
Perez took a penalty) to a DNF. A puncture sent him to the barriers possibly costing him a podium.
Before going off he was P4 chasing P3. At the very least he would have gotten a P5 finish.
Next up was Russia where Lance qualified 13th. When I say it starts to go downhill, I mean it. He
was fighting for P11/P12 and then got taken out by Charles. I am certain he would have at least got
P10 if he hadn't crashed out, potentially even up to P8.
The next race Lance misses out because of Covid so on to Portugal we go. He qualified 12th, not
bad. Then of course there is the incident with Lando which for me personally was a racing incident
but I can see the blame on Lance. It was an ambitious move, some might cool it reckless but so
many people would be praising any other driver if that had worked. It ultimately resulted in him
having to retire because of that damage.
Next up was Imola where Lance started 15th and finished 13th. Due to contact with Esteban during
the first lap he had to pit early and that basically ruined any chance he had at the race.
And then Turkey happened. The heartbreak and elation that weekend inspired. First off all, if
anyone tries to discredit Lance Pole as anything other than possibly one of the greatest Qualifying
results in the last years I am smashing their heads with a hammer. Yes that Racing Point was a fast
car. Yes, they obviously could be podium contenders if Mercedes or RedBull messed up. But considering Max reputation and Lewis pure race craft, I don't think anyone thought that they would
be anything other than the top 2 drivers. And in comes Lance with a lap about 3 tenth faster than
Max in a worse car.
Incredible. And then Racing Point saw that and + Sergio's P3 and went “Nah, we can only have one
of them on the podium.” During that race I genuinely thought the first 30 laps that Lance would
win. And then they go against his pit call which turns out to have made things worse (no pace) and
discover later on that Lance had a problem with his front wing which slowed him down. Therefore
he only got 9th.
I don't really want to talk about Bahrain because the only thing that mattered about that race was
seeing Romain get out of the car but I have to if I want to recap Lance performance. I am going to
keep it short. He qualified 13th and didn't finish as he was turned upside down by Kvyat. Would
have probably been a points finish but truly nothing of that race really matters or mattered other
than Romain being okay.
The next race finally saw something good again with Lance qualifying 10th and being third on that
podium. This was overshadowed by Sergio's win but it was a great result from him and the team.
The last race saw Lance in P8 and finishing in P10.
Spain had a great start for him again which I just want to add here.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.spanish-grand-prix-stroll-overtakes-bottas-with-amazing-start.1687526223371988110.html
So, what is the overall season summary?
This was without a doubt Lance best season. I mean come on. The only reason why people think he
did bad is because they merely look at the points which you can't. Lance had so many DNFs this
season where he wasn't at fault and which meant he missed out on huge points. I don't doubt that if
he only had half of the DNFs or even if Turkey had gone the way it should have, he would very
much be closer to Checo. Without a doubt he was never as close to a team-mate than he was in
2020. Even Qualy shows how mostly they were so close pace was. I think he would have had at
least 2 other podiums (Mugello and Turkey) if luck had just been a bit more on his side. So
therefore I think he would have had at least a 100 points. Sadly that didn't happen.
But this was
undoubtedly his greatest season so let's just collect his achievement that he did have:
He got the best qualifying results of the team that year, a pole and a third place. He also got two
podiums and two fourth place finish. All the races expect 1 that he finished were Top 10 finishes.
He outqualified his team mate multiple times.
Here are the DNFs if anyone wants to look them up:
There is no clip I can find of the Austria GP since they basically just call him into the pits.
The Mugello DNF (This is a fairly heavy crash so don't watch it if you can't see stuff like that) A
possible puncture, another incident completely out of his hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ebaeSw8ZE
This was Russia where Lance got taken out by Charles. I don't really think it's the worst attempt I
have seen but yeah, blame to Charles because he clearly saw Lance if that camera perspective is
anything to go by.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-russian-grand-prix-sainz-and-stroll-crash-out-in-chaotic-sochi-race-start.1687515300528811143.html
Lance and Lando's collision during the Portuguese GP (I can accept that the move by Lance wasn't
the smartest and I can also fully understand why people blame him.) However I think so many
people jumped on this because of the Free Practice incident between Max and Lance where it was
clearly just a miscommunication and misunderstanding.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-portuguese-grand-prix-stroll-and-norris-collide-at-turn-1.1687510148078074772.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QJTAVnaLRI
(This is said Free Practice accident)
Kyvat flipping Lance (again you shouldn’t watch this if you cant deal with heavier crashes). Some
say racing incident, I would say more blame an Daniil but I am just happy Lance was okay
especially after Romain's accident before.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-bahrain-grand-prix-stroll-flips-and-crashes-after-kvyat-contact.1687510862145773128.html
2021- up against a champion
Now it's time for change! Not only is the team now Aston Martin but Seb is Lance new team mate.
And the car is well there.
In the first race Lance outqualifies Seb and not only starts but also finishes in 10th.
Imola presents a similar picture where Lance outqualifies Seb and gets 10th place. And he finishes
8th! Sure he got a 5 second penalty for leaving the track but that is still a good start to the season.
In the third race it starts to go a bit downhill with Lance qualifying in 17th and finishing in 14th , just
behind Seb in 13th.
Spain once again sees Lance start and finish in the same place, this time 11th. That qualy saw him
just miss out on P10 where he was off less than 10/1000. He had some good battles though like with
Fernando.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-spanish-grand-prix-stroll-wins-wheel-to-wheel-battle-with-alonso.1699487558908336755.html
The next race is good once again. Lance qualifies 13th and finishes 8th. Considering that this is
Monaco and there isn't really any overtaking opportunity, that's huge especially with Seb finishing
P5.
Baku sees well a bit of a downer. First he has his Qualy crash (Absolutely his mistake then again
hitting the wall happens to many drivers) and during his race he suffers a tyre blow out which
causes him to crash
(See the qualy crash here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txr4NfOoZys).
In France he once again fails to set a qualy time to get out of Q1 but more as a result of bad timing.
He couldn't have predicted the others would crash so no fault on him there. He even managed to set
a lap which was sadly deleted but would have been faster than Sebs. He somehow manages to get
back to 10th place just one behind Seb in the race.
Styria sees Lance qualify in P10 and finish in P8.
The next race once again sees him P10 in Qualy and then the race finishes with him in P13 with a 5
second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
The tenth race sees him start in P15 and finish in P14 in the sprint. In the actual race he gets P8.
Hungary looks promising with a P12 start but then well carnage happens. I will comment on those
incidents in a bit.
On to Spa where he qualified P15 but was sent back to P20 as a result of the collision in Hungary. I
won't talk about this race because it was still one of the biggest jokes and bullshit things this sport
has done in recent years. Lance got a penalty for the work done under the stopped race. All in all a
weekend to forget.
Zandvoort could be promising with a P12 start. Nothing major happens, he also finishes P12. He
has a moment with Seb where Lance moves across from Seb to possibly cover him off from
overtaking him. Dangerous driving I will admit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLT3XQ96FAY
Monza sees him Qualify 12th and manage to get up to 10th during the sprint qualy. In the race he
finishes P7. He does another borderline move on Seb which I won't deny. I however feel like people
over dramatize it. For me that wasn't nice but it was still okay. The only reason why people really
criticize it so much is because you shouldn't do that to a teammate. Again I can understand why
people dislike it but that still doesn't take away from the great job Lance did that weekend,
considering he just missed out on Q3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRMnO3mmPY
Russia is there, with a P8 start and a P11 finish. But we obviously have to talk about it. Not only did
he have a great start where he overtook multiple cars but he also hit the wall and had contact with
Seb. He hit the wall as it started to rain but he was still able to keep going. The incident with Seb is
well yeah Lance fault. But I think it wasn't so much mean spirited as more plain underestimating
space and possible struggle with the conditions. Seb even said that it was a misunderstanding and
that Lance probably didn't see or expect him there.
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2021-russian-grand-prix-mega-stroll-start/228625209311917/
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-russian-grand-prix-onboard-as-stroll-slides-into-the-wall.1712063737151581609.html
Turkey has a P9 start and a P9 finish but once again shows Lance skill as it is a wet race.
The next GP sees a P12 start and P12 finish. Quiet a race though as Lance was first spun by
Nicholas Latifi and then nearly had a collision with Mazepin.
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2021-united-states-grand-prix-nicholas-latifi-and-
lance-stroll-collide/248666900567613/
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2021-united-states-grand-prix-mazepin-strolls-close-
call/402411924879898/
Mexico comes with a slap of penalties so qualy doesn't really matter anyway. He also crashes in
Qualy. https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2021-mexico-city-grand-prix-stroll-crashes-
out-of-quali/627086791628083/
Still a P14 finish though.
Brazil once again sees the useless sprint Qualy which manages to get Lance up from P15 to P14.
Nothing really happens in that race position wise for him so he stays P14. However he has a scrap
with Yuki which honestly was just Yuki in my opinion trying a way too ambitious move. They
actually fought quiet a bit that race. Lance retired in the race as a result of the damage he suffered from the accident in the first lap.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-sao-paulo-grand-prix-tsunoda-and-stroll-collide-at-interlagos.1716425125628029095.html
Quater sees Lance in P12 and he manages to get a P6 finish! A great drive from him especially
considering that he had to make his tyres last longer.
The penultimate race sees both Astons struggling in Qualy with Lance in P18. He manages to get up
to P11.
We don't want to talk about Abu Dhabi because it was a robbery and a shit show but we have to
because people keep saying it was only bad for Lewis when drivers like Lance where also
massively effected by the FIAs incompetence. He started P13 and finished that race but by god was
it a nightmare. I am just going to leave the comms between him and his engineer here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK5SbgqcjIA
My summary:
While last season showed how great Lance can be, this season was huge for him in terms of
development. Not only did he outqualify Seb multiple times but he also was incredible consistent.
Almost every race saw him somewhere between 8 or 12th with an average finish of 11th. Yes Seb has
more points but almost half of those came from his podium (which I am absolutely not discrediting
or taking away, just merely pointing it out.) If you consider that Seb has over 10 years in that sport
compared to Lance rushed into it and now being in his 5th + Seb being one of the greatest for many,
it truly speaks to Lance credit how close he was to him and how much he managed to consistently
score.
I won't deny that this however also is the season where I would argue Lance had some
questionable manoeuvres and many borderline racing incidents. This however also shows that even
with a car that wasn't great Lance was consistently in the midfield battling for points.
Here's the DNFs:
Baku which sadly was just out of his hands
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-azerbaijan-grand-prix-stroll-escapes-heavy-high-speed-crash.1701823437935060912.html
The Hungary chaos from multiple perspectives. You can clearly see that Lance is of course at fault
for it but he immediately recognizes that and apologizes. There's been mistranslations where it
looks like he blames Val which is not true. He knows he fucked up. Drivers look up but yeah totally
on him although I will say I first thought he was trying to avoid that carnage by going onto the
grass. In his interview after he says he possibly ran over debrief which given the carnage in front of
him isn't hard to believe. So yeah, for me personally more of a domino effect then anything.
Valtteri's bad start set a series of unfortunate events into motion.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-hungarian-grand-prix-drivers-react-to-turn-1-
crash.1707071583705474820.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.lance-stroll-reacts-to-disaster-hungarian-grand-prix-start-crash.1706899140973058269.html
2022- a shitbox in green
Another year at Aston Martin with Seb but instead of a bad car they now got a green tractor to
honour Sebs environmental perspective.
In the first race Lance qualified 19th and finished 12th. The second race sees Lance start in P15 and
finish P13 but a lap earlier due to a longer pit stop and damage after coming together with Alex.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-albon-found-to-blame-for-clash-with-stroll.1728538480607161440.html
Australia sees well a bizarre qualifying. Lance and Nicky crash during Q1 for which Lance later
gets penalized. In my opinion completely undeserved. As you can see, Nicky clearly moves over to
let cars pass which Lance then does only for Nicky to seemingly want to retake that position very
fast with a much to small gap. I don't fully blame Nicky but I understand why Lance didn't expect
him to come back so quickly and I personally see it as a bad communication example more than an
accident where you have to shift blame.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-australian-gp-qualifying-latifis-car-destroyed-in-bizarre-crash-with-stroll.1729611513723725817.html
In the race he manages to get back up to P12.
Imola once again has a sprint weekend which doesn't affect Lance who still remains P15. In the race
he manages to get back to P10.
The new Miami race sees Lance qualify from P10 but due to an issue he has to start from the pit
lane. And still he gets P10.
The sixth race he quallified 18th and finished 15th. He didn't really score points but he could have
scored higher had he not been spun around by Pierre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSP08f5Slk
Next up was Monaco. Lance qualifies P18 and finishes P14. He hit the wall during the formation
lap but then again it was a wet race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-monaco-grand-prix-latifi-and-stroll-hit-the-barriers-on-wet-formation-lap-in-monaco.1734171020113023239.html
Baku saw Lance qualifying 19th and not finishing. His Qualy which I will give people was bad. Like
crashing twice (also the second time was a result of the first) isn't what you should expect from
someone who at that point was 5 years in F1. However he had engine issues that entire weekend
which is also why he didn't finish so you start to wonder if they maybe played a tiny role.
His home race saw him qualify P18 again but he finally got points again with a P10. His move on
Seb was dangerous and probably cost Seb a position or two. But also, Lance start in that race was
like incredible. What a great start.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1591574059808165888?lang=de
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1587415154936930304
Silverstone sees Lance start last and finish in 11th. A good start which saw him avoid all the chaos
in front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7_Elsl4jGM
Austria once again sees a sprint which means he goes from P17 to P13. Nothing changed in the race
and he finished in P13. Some battles that were nice but ultimately with the Aston Martin tractor not
that great.
The next race saw Lance once again in P17 and finishing in P10. An incredible race from him and I just want to show his start because we rarely ever saw how great his starts can be and how close the
midfield is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOaKfdx6wrw
Hungary saw Lance qualify P14, finally into Q2 again. The race saw him finish P11. Considering
he got spun around at one point by Daniel I would say that's a good result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5I-95BkUK4
Next up was Spa where Lance once again got into Q2 and qualified 14th. Because of penalties of
other drivers he started P9 and finished P11.
Zandvoort saw him even into Q3 and qualify P10 which is also where he finished the race.
Up next was Monza where he was once again starting from P17 but because of penalties got pushed
up to 12th which was very promising. Sadly he had to retire the car because of breaks overheating.
The next race had Lance start from P12 and finish in P6.
And then Japan came back. Lance only qualified P19 but finished P12. The start he had to that race
was just wow. During a wet race he not only managed to overtake multiple cars but he also just
quiet literally drove past them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwJvwpCnRwU
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-japanese-grand-prix-lance-stroll-makes-lightning-
start-to-go-from-19th-to-p11-on-opening-lap.1746188182712421933.html
Next up was the US GP where he qualified 7th which considering he was best of the rest in a car that
was 9th fastest deserves a shout-out. Especially when it put him up to 5th because of other penalties.
Sadly his race was over rather quickly. He DNFed after colliding with Fernando.
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/videos/2022-united-states-grand-prix-fernando-alonso-and-
lance-stroll-come-together/885762125676389/
I have seen people say that Lance move is dangerous but you are allowed to move over to defend
from an opponent, some of you need to remember that. Yes he should have moved more clearly but
there was still like Lance said enough space. I think it was just a bit misjudged which lead to the
racing incident. But yes I can see why people were to put blame on to Lance since he should have
not just moved a bit or could have defended it later. He got a penalty for his move which would be
applied in Mexico.
A penalty that I agree with because his defending was too robust and late.
Mexico saw Lance start as a result of his penalty for last race. He finished 15th.
Brazil saw him qualify 15th and finish 16th in the sprint. What he did during the sprint to Seb I'll
agree was a bad move. In the race he managed to get back up to 10th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hCpPzHBQ1k
The last race saw Lance start 14th and finish 8th.
I think looking back on it now especially comparing it to 2021 and 2020 which were undoubtedly
some of Lance best performances, it's hurts seeing 2022. There were many mistakes made by him
and I think a lot of that is also down to him just not seeming to be comfortable with the car plus
Aston just struggling in general. Lance Qualifying was definitely lacking and there is no doubt that
he clashed more with Seb than he should have. I won't say many of the incidents he had that season
reflect good on him.
However I think it's truly unfair that people would judge him based of one
season that was bad when he had a car that was nearly the worst car on the grid. It is also very clear
that controlling that car was very difficult.
I also raise the question again: How much better do we expect him to perform against Seb? This isn't me
dismissing his incidents this is merely looking at results.
How much can you really expect from Lance to be close to Seb in that car without trying to
diminish as arguably the better driver? How much can we compare their performances? Or rather
how much can we judge Lance especially when he was against Seb, a 4 time world champion, a
runner up multiple times?
If we were to merely look at results for this (which I have started before aren't everything), we will
see that really they aren't that far apart. In the races where both of them finished they are mostly
only 2-3 places apart which is interesting if you consider that Lance often qualified further back.
But, like I said results don't speak for everything so if you were to say which season was Lance
worst, I would probably say this.
I want to draw your attention now though to some positives from that season like Lance amazing
start in Japan which shows he is talented.
Or the fact that Lance got Aston Martin's highest Qualifying that season with 7th which turned into a
start from P5 after penalties of other drivers were applied. He also had the most positions gained
and was in the top 10 for most overtakes in that season.
Here are the DNFs:
This is Lance and Alex making contact which resulted in both of them out of the race. Personally a
racing incident for me as they seemingly both misjudged the space or weren't expecting the other to
turn in. I would argue it's a bit ambitious from Alex but I don't think it was penalty deserving on either end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDg9cweEbew
Side-note: I also don't know why people think Lance crashes a lot or is know for his dangerous
driving. Sure during his first season he crashed twice in free practice and had a few DNFs but
almost 80% of his DNFs are either not his fault or simple race incidents. Then again he had 2 other
free practice crashes in his second season but that doesn't make him a bad driver? The worst he ever
clashed with another driver was Seb in 2022 which I will give people. However I really don't see
why people say he is famous for colliding with others when many couldn't recall any incident that
involved him and another driver that wasn't in 2022 or the last season. He isn't memorable for bad
driving although 2022 might reflect badly on him.
So what is the conclusion?
Why did I title this document the way that it is?
That is simple to answer. I completely mean it.
In his career if we ignore 2018, Lance has had/has the following teammates:
- Felipe Massa, who was nearly a WDC
- Sergio Perez who was one of the best midfield drivers at that time
- Sebastian Vettel, a 4x WDC
and now Fernando Alonso, a 2xWDC.
People forget that not only was Lance in F1 with very little experience at an early age but he has
also had world class drivers, some regarded as the greatest as his teammates.
Not only that but he has consistently improved over the years and had rarely any bad clashes that he
was responsible for.
The worst he did was against a 4 x WDC in one of the worst, if not the worst car on the grid, a car
that he didn't feel confident in and that was hardly able to be predicated and difficult to control. That
was his worst year in F1 where a lot of the mistakes where his fault without a doubt.
But people truly forget how great Lance can perform, especially in the wet and how he dominated
Perez in 2020 until his streak of luck was cut short to no fault of his own. Not only that but he
outqualified Seb in 2021 multiple times, was more consistent than him with his race result etc.
Not to mention the things he has already achieved.
He is one of the youngest podium sitters, the youngest front row starter (all from his first season),
has multiple podiums (and would have had more if not for his unlucky streak in the later half of
2020), has a pole and has managed to be close to many of his teammates (if you don't only lock at
results.) Not to mention that even though his qualifying was inconsistent, he always had good
standout performances.
And he is one of the best starters on that grid. There are some races where he just drives past 5+
cars like it's nothing which often shouldn't even be possible with his bad car.
Yes, he was inconsistent in Qualy many times and yes he had some questionable drives but the later
can be said for almost any driver on the grid. Drivers are bound to make mistakes and also
sometimes experienced ones because it happens.
Considering how well he is doing in this season with a still healing injury, I truly do not get how he
is this discredited and underrated. When it comes to teammates he has arguably had some of the
hardest to compete against in the last years.
Not to mention he came into this sport without anyone believing he deserved there. He even questioned his own place in this sport which is bullshit considering he had enough wins and champions to warrant an F1 seat.
#f1#lance stroll#so yeah this is it guys#if anyone wants to reblog or give me feedback I highly appreciate it
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i know i do this quite a lot already but before i disappear into nothingness i wanna talk a bit about someone called lando norris.
born 13th november 1999, in bristol. his father is english, and his mother is belgian. he holds dual british and belgian citizenship. he barely speaks either language. he has three siblings, two younger sisters and one older brother.
in 2010 he placed 3rd in super 1 national championship, and then 2nd in 2011. in that same year he won formula kart stars and placed 3rd in copa de campeones. in 2013 he won the wsk euro series, the cik-fia european championship and cik-fia international super cup while placing 2nd in the wsk super master series.
in 2014 when he was 14, he placed 3rd in the ginetta junior championship with 4 wins, 11 podiums, 8 poles, 2 fastest laps and 432 points in 20 races.
a year later, he partook in the msa formula championship with carlin where he placed 1st, beating ricky collard and then teammate colton herta. that same year he also raced in the inaugural season of adac formula 4. he entered in 8/24 races, won 1 race and got 5 other podiums and ended in 8th place out of 51 drivers.
2015 also saw him race in the italian formula 4 championship where he placed 11th after racing in 9/21 races, and the brdc formula 4 autumn trophy where he placed 5th after racing in 4/8 races.
2016 was a busy year for 16-year-old lando. as a rookie he won both the eurocup formula renault 2.0 and formula renault 2.0 nec with josef kaufmann racing, and also the toyota racing series - also as a rookie.
he drove 11/24 races in the brdc british formula 3 championship, winning four races and getting on the podium for four others, resulting in an overall p8. he drove as a guest (ineligible for points) for carlin in the fia formula 3 european championship and placed 11th in the macau grand prix after having started the race p27.
in 2017 lando entered the fia formula 3 european championship with carlin. he won the drivers' championship with 441 pts. during 30 races he won 9 times, got on the podium 11 other times, got 8 poles and 8 fastest laps. he became the first non-prema driver to win the championship.
he also won the fia formula 3 european rookie championship with 628 pts, beating drivers like jehan daruvala and mick schumacher.
in the macau grand prix that year, he placed 2nd. he made his debut in round 11 of the fia formula 2 championship with campos racing, replacing ralph boschung, retiring in the feature race and placing 13th in the sprint race.
also in 2017, lando was signed as a junior driver with mclaren. he tested for mclaren in a scheduled mid-season test and set the second-fastest lap in the second day of testing at the hungaroring. later that year he officially became the mclaren test and reserve driver for the 2018 season.
in 2018 he entered the formula 2 championship with carlin. as a rookie, he placed 2nd with 1 win and 7 other podiums. current f1 drivers that competed alongside him are george russell, alex albon and nicky latifi.
he also drove daytona 24h with fernando alonso and phil hanson in a prototype car on continental tyres, recovering 33 seconds in 20 laps.
2019 was his rookie year in f1, the youngest british f1 driver of all time at age 19. he was partnered with carlos sainz at mclaren. that meant mclaren had a brand new driver line-up, with carlos having signed a two-year deal after a two-year stint at renault. lando finished 11th in the drivers' championship with 49 points, while carlos scored 96 points. lando did outqualify carlos at 11/21 races. during this season lando signed a new contract keeping him at mclaren until 2022.
due to covid the 2020 season started in july, and it started with a bang with lando qualifying p4 (elevated to p3 because of a hamilton penalty, the highest grid position of lando's career at the time and the highest for mclaren since the 2016 austrian gp). lando finished the race p3, getting his first f1 podium and his first fastest lap (he got his second at the turkish gp). scenario 7 lando was born. this also made lando the third youngest podium-finisher in f1 history (a record formerly held by jenson button). he finished p9 in the end, with 97 points, almost doubling his 2019 points. carlos finished 6th with 105 points but once again, lando out qualified him 9/17.
2021 was lando's best year in f1 to date. he got a new teammate, daniel ricciardo, who, like carlos, came from a two-year stint at renault. lando amassed four more podiums this year, three p3's and one p2. he started on the first row for the first time when he got p2 in quali in austria, but went on to do better as he got his first pole in sochi, and a first real shot at a win while also recording the fastest lap at the same race. he finished the season in p6 with 160 points, 45 more points than his teammate. he also out-qualified dan 14/22. this year he also set a record for consecutive points finishes for a mclaren driver, with a streak of 15 races in the top-10. the record was previously held by two-time world champion fernando alonso. lando signed a new contract locking him down at mclaren until the end of the 2025 season.
the 2022 season isn't over, but while the car hasn't really been up to speed, lando has done everything and more to keep mclaren in the p4 fight. he has one podium, a p3, the only driver outside of rbr, ferrari and merc, and he has 109 points, 79% of mclaren's 138 points. he's currently p7 in the standings, behind the rbr, ferrari, and mercedes drivers.
he also did all three days of preseason testing in bahrain after daniel fell ill, raced in monaco with tonsillitis securing the fastest lap and has only once, in 79 races, been eliminated in q1 (never this year). he has made it to q2 since silverstone 2019, one of the longest streaks of any current driver on the grid.
in 2016 he won british club driver of the year and the mclaren autosport brdc award at the autosport awards.
in 2018 he won national driver of the year at the autosport awards.
in 2019, 2020 and 2021 he won british competition driver of the year at the autosport awards.
in 2021 he was nominated for fia personality of the year at the fia prize giving awards, alongside drivers such as max verstappen, lewis hamilton and sebastian vettel.
tldr; lando isn't just someone who stumbled into f1 back in 2019 with nothing to show for it, with no accolades or experience on his back. does he have a disproportionate amount of privilege coming from a wealthy family? of course, he does, but so do most of the grid in one way or another. whether it's monetary, being connected to the former president of the fia or getting personally invested in by a team principal of an f1 team when you're still in karts.
there are a lot of talented drivers that never get into f1 because of reasons; there are some drivers who lack the talent to drive an f1 car yet still get into the series. lando doesn't fit into either category. he's there because of a lot of things, but the main ones are talent, speed, dedication, teamwork, focus, preparation and the willingness to learn and partake in building a car for the future, whether it's giving feedback through sim work or working with the mechanics to figure out how the car works.
tldr2; lando deserves to be in the sport, on the grid, to be lauded and loved and applauded.
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Top 5 Seb helmets
this was so hard bc i love so many of them! in no particular order (bc i'm indecisive)
1. singapore gp 2022 - so slick, a perfect use of superblack paint and the only time i'll allow a singapore helmet to not be shiny
2. turkish gp 2021 - fish!!!!!!!! i have this helmet as a pin badge
3. british gp 2022 - if i think about this one too much i'll start crying
4. italian gp 2019 - i love the retro ferrari look so much it's so simple and yet so pretty
5. singapore gp 2013 - an absolute classic. it's glittery, it's rainbow, it's seb's best helmet.
send me top 5s!
#thank u for the ask i'm sorry it took me a minute I was sourcing photos sjsjs#also i'm not gonna answer the other one u sent simply bc i don't have any answers for it - feel free to send another!#racingliners#💌#Sebastian vettel
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Hi there, quick question for you.
What would you say were Sebastian's best races? Doesn't matter if he won or not but what would you say were his best and showed who he is as a driver the most and you'd recommend them to someone who is just now looking into him?
Hello, this is such an interesting ask!! He's won so many, I feel like a lot of his other incredible races aren't acknowledged as much, so!
2007 Chinese gp - a masterclass from him in a toro rosso
2008 Monaco gp - overtaking on a track where it's basically impossible to overtake
2008 Italian gp - the best race ever actually
2009 Chinese gp - everyone else struggling in the rain (similar to italy 2008)
2012 Abu Dhabi gp - overtaking in places where it shouldn't be possible
2012 Brazilian gp - my personal favourite
2019 German gp - basically everyone struggling except for him
In order to not make this to long, some other impressive ones are Singapore 2013, Canada 2015, Singapore 2016, Malaysia 2017, Azerbaijan 2021. Also despite this last year not being great, I also want to point out the 2022 Japanese and US gp . Incredible overtakes, and dragging that car places it shouldn't be.
If you want to see him win though, then watch any race from 2013 basically
#most of these aren't wins but those you can just google#and winning is obviously impressive but starting from the pit lane and ending up on the podium is just something else#also i haven't seen all his ferrari races so i'm sure there are others worth mentioning too that i don't know about#or have forgotten#anyway i could talk forever but he is truly just incredible#sebastian vettel#asks#anon
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