2018 Williams F1 Racing - Mercedes

[IamLegend]

Anyone seen this yet?

http://en.f1i.com/news/288688-kubica-ta ... races.html

[NathanOlder]

Yeah mentioned it a few days ago. Could be a great deal for williams.


p.s The Toro rosso at Monza in 2008 was sooo bad, the great talent that was Sebastian Bourdais manages to qualify on the 2nd row.

Or have i confused it with the Toro Rosso being so good and Bourdais being soo bad.

Either way the Toro Rosso that weekend was a formidable car. Bourdais being 4th on the grid confirms this.

[Manoah2u]

What happened to lookbacktime?

[Webber2011]

Hopefully just laying low while there's no news to report.

[KeiKo403]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

[marmer]

worst drivers since maldo and Senna

[Sevach]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

I would think this is worst, Sirotkin wasn't a stellar F2 prospect... if he starts beating Lance...

Getting beat by Massa was normal and acceptable (the gap not so much at times).

[Starscreamer]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

WILLIAMS 2018 is doomed

[restless]

Anyone noticed that Kubica signed as third and development driver?
I think Williams made The smartest choice.
Took the money from Sirotkin, signed Kubica as alternative&development... he'll have some FP, some tests, they'll be able to evaluate and compare performance, still will get lots of free PR...
A smart and safe choice
Robvert will have the chance to prove himself, Sirotkin will be motivated to work hard, Stroll will get access and learn from "senior" driver.
Win-win-win

[wesley123]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

Of course, anything you don't like in Williams is because of Stroll. It couldn't possibly be that Williams made the choice themselves! I mean, who would pick a driver you can rely for the whole season over a driver who's performance is uncertain, consistency is uncertain and is completely unclear if he could even finish the season.

Outside of that, in the tests with Williams that he did the headrest had to be modified, and it is fair to doubt Kubicas ability to get out of the car, with the halo, in the required time.

Consistency will be very important for Williams, and having to suddenly change their driver lineup in the middle of the season wouldn't be very good either.

And the "couldn't have Lance get beaten" argument is so incredibly flawed.
1. If Lance is so bad as anyone who uses that argument claims to be, wouldn't he then be beaten by virtually all drivers, rendering the whole point moot to begin with?
2. Who cares if Lance would get beaten to begin with? 2017 showed very well that Lance still is learning, and it is fairly reasonable to assume that Lance would still learn things through the 2018 season. Anyone who would expect, or require him to beat an experienced teammate is being completely unreasonable.
3. This argument makes me sad that it isn't Kubica next to Stroll, because if Stroll would completely destroy Kubica, that would have been really funny. But on the other hand, Kubica not getting the seat and all the people getting mad about it is pretty funny as well.

I wish that people would take a honest look at the driver lineup instead of blaming anything they don't like on Stroll.

[KeiKo403]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

I would think this is worst, Sirotkin wasn't a stellar F2 prospect... if he starts beating Lance...

Getting beat by Massa was normal and acceptable (the gap not so much at times).

I get that but I think the reward outweighs the risk here. Stroll vs Sirotkin. It's hard to see Stoll becoming defacto #1 over a Di Resta or Kubica. Put him alongside a rookie and he's got at least some chance.

I can't see the Williams team comparing to Hulk & Sainz or Perez & Ocon, that should be their direct point competition. For me Stroll & Sirotkin just don't make the cut, even if the car is great compared to FI & Renault.

[NathanOlder]

I think this throws HUGE pressure on Lance for 2018. No excuses, he should be beating Sirotkin EVERY race weekend. If he doesnt then it shows how bad Lance is. Even if Sirotkin surprises and is actually a super driver, It will make Lance look terrible and everyone will be saying "look how bad Lance is, and I wonder how fast Kubica would have been"

I see this as win lose lose.

win - financially
lose - championship points/ car development (as Kubica wont develop the car as well as he could if he were in the car every session)
lose - fans not liking it, no massive load of new fans loving willilams for taking on Kubica.

Williams have always been a neutral team for me, Great British Team, generally in the top half, Great History, i like to see them do well now and then ect ect, but now I personally couldnt care less for how their 2018 season goes. I'm almost looking forward to saying "I told you so" in 11 months time.

[marmer]

Paul would have been by far the best choice for Lance to race against.

A known F1 talent but not the best and never regarded as a top driver so if he had anything about him Lance would be faster than him. Sergi is an unknown and will make stroll look bad if he beats him

[KeiKo403]

Well Sirotkin is confirmed as Williams driver for 2018. I wonder if Papa Stroll had anything to do with that decision...? Couldn't have Lance being beaten by old experienced drivers.

Of course, anything you don't like in Williams is because of Stroll. It couldn't possibly be that Williams made the choice themselves! I mean, who would pick a driver you can rely for the whole season over a driver who's performance is uncertain, consistency is uncertain and is completely unclear if he could even finish the season.

I never said anything about not liking Williams or any of the issue's are Lance's fault.
But Massa retired (again) because he wasn't going to be re-signed. They had all of those things in Massa so why not just re-sign him? Also recent history has proven that there are many drivers on the current/recent F1 grid who lack performance & consistency.

Outside of that, in the tests with Williams that he did the headrest had to be modified, and it is fair to doubt Kubicas ability to get out of the car, with the halo, in the required time.

Consistency will be very important for Williams, and having to suddenly change their driver lineup in the middle of the season wouldn't be very good either.

Yes, very good point, however teams do swap drivers mid season....again recent history has shown this. And although extreme and admittedly a rare occurrence, you only need to look at the Verstappen/Kyvat swap May '16. I wouldn't say that turned out too badly.

And the "couldn't have Lance get beaten" argument is so incredibly flawed.
1. If Lance is so bad as anyone who uses that argument claims to be, wouldn't he then be beaten by virtually all drivers, rendering the whole point moot to begin with?

It's a car & driver championship. Williams > Sauber, Stroll > Palmer. Also, even Maldonado won a race...

2. Who cares if Lance would get beaten to begin with? 2017 showed very well that Lance still is learning, and it is fairly reasonable to assume that Lance would still learn things through the 2018 season. Anyone who would expect, or require him to beat an experienced teammate is being completely unreasonable.
3. This argument makes me sad that it isn't Kubica next to Stroll, because if Stroll would completely destroy Kubica, that would have been really funny. But on the other hand, Kubica not getting the seat and all the people getting mad about it is pretty funny as well.

I wish that people would take a honest look at the driver lineup instead of blaming anything they don't like on Stroll.

I'm not knocking Lance, everyone needs to start somewhere. Although IMO Williams is nothing more than an investment in Lances' future by his father. A playground if you like, somewhere to build experience and confidence. I suspect he wouldn't get the confidence if Kubica would start beating him.

Just to add too, I've read many of your posts on here over the years and agree with an awful lot of what you say, I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing here.

[Manoah2u]

That's it, not supporting this team ever again in my life. biggest disappointment in the last decade, they can only deserve to get what 's coming. Sauber and Kaltenborn 2.0.
will be all the way in the back, no progress, huge fail.

meanwhile, i'm really worried about lookbacktime. he hasn't been around since 20th of november, and he isn't responding to PM........sincerely hope he's ok