Force India showed up in winter testing with a VJM11 car that looked very similar to its predecessor. Underneath, it really is a new car, but the limited number of changes did show that Force India may no longer be the leader of the midfield.
This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
So stroll's facial hair is of interest? I would rather hear about what he thought of the car. So far no interviews from the test where he was 4th quick in his first time in the car. The other part that is interesting is it sounds like a long term deal, which i'm sure is going to dismay his detractors.
I don't get the hate for Stroll. Sure, he has money, but then again most of the grid comes from wealth. He was considerably slower than Felipe Massa, sure, but Stroll was a inexperienced rookie going against a massively more experienced teammate. He was slow again the next year, sure, but that car was absolutely undriveable, and he beat Sirotkin in points and in race pace. The guy has shown some flashes of brilliance, he just needs experience to be able to show this consistently.
I look forward to seeing him in a proper car and with a couple of seasons under his belt. I don't think he'll be too far from Checo, if he's not on par with him already.
Most F1 drivers have some financial backing behind them, but in Stroll's case money is arguably the sole reason for him being in F1. He hasn't made it on merit, I'd say. Whats also a thorn in the eye is that he's basically occupying a more deserving drivers' seat.
I truefully hope that Racing Point will be fair in handling their drivers next year. I wouldn't want to see Perez being disadvantaged somehow, if and when he destroys Stroll on-track.
Most F1 drivers have some financial backing behind them, but in Stroll's case money is arguably the sole reason for him being in F1. He hasn't made it on merit, I'd say. Whats also a thorn in the eye is that he's basically occupying a more deserving drivers' seat.
I truefully hope that Racing Point will be fair in handling their drivers next year. I wouldn't want to see Perez being disadvantaged somehow, if and when he destroys Stroll on-track.
His junior career was as good as Ocon's. Not saying that money wasn't a factor, or even that it wasn't the largest factor, but Stroll did have a pretty damn good junior career before jumping into F1.
Doesn't seem to matter to some posters that his career was as good as Ocons. Do you haters think that stroll reads your comments or that he would even care. Sounds like it's a long term deal so some posters here are going to have lots of time to post their negative comments. He settled in pretty quickly at the test and matched perez's time in the first day. How he does against perez (who by the way, is also a pay driver) we will have to wait and see. For a 20 year old he has had a not bad start to his career.
I don't get the hate for Stroll. Sure, he has money, but then again most of the grid comes from wealth. He was considerably slower than Felipe Massa, sure, but Stroll was a inexperienced rookie going against a massively more experienced teammate. He was slow again the next year, sure, but that car was absolutely undriveable, and he beat Sirotkin in points and in race pace. The guy has shown some flashes of brilliance, he just needs experience to be able to show this consistently.
I look forward to seeing him in a proper car and with a couple of seasons under his belt. I don't think he'll be too far from Checo, if he's not on par with him already.
I think part of it comes from the fact that he drove for Williams and a lot of fans don't like that the team is in a situation where they need to take on a pay driver.
That he was able to put in so much preparation through private testing of old cars probably didn't help some people's opinion of him either.
Favourite driver: Lando Norris
Favourite team: McLaren
Turned down the chance to meet Vettel at Silverstone in 2007. He was a test driver at the time and I didn't think it was worth queuing!! 🤦🏻♂️
I have been pretty much annoyed with Stroll first, due to the obvious 'daddy buy me a seat' situation.
that being said, in his first year, alongside Massa,
i was surprised to see him actually put down some pretty decent performances.
Above all, i had not expect him to even remotely be able to deliver like that.
I'm not calling him then an unexpected wonderkid,
but i was more expecting something along the lines of Scott speed, ericsson, nasr.
or Giovanazzi's clumsy crashes on his debuts.
this year was silent, but well, not much to be managed to get done with that dog of a car.
i'm also pretty sure they were prepping for 19 season anyway.
i'd say the 19 season will be up or under. much more decent car to show stuff.
especially alongside pretty experienced and talented perez.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
At the end of the day, or season come to that, what does it matter if you got the drive through family connections or having a better powerpoint presentation than the other guy?
Think of the famous drivers whos family owned a cart track so the young driver can start a couple of years before others, or own a race track or school, or even those who fund the kids v those kids that have to get holiday jobs to cover the costs for next season. Even the latter need good connections as a normal out of term job will not cover much more than the hot dogs and tea at the venue.
I used to race waaaay back (I think it was only in black and white then) and a few of the leaders had ~£££ to spare, one of the better ones though his family owned a garage which meant he had facilities all year and a scrap pool to get bits from. He was not what I call rich, but he had a huge advantage over the other 90% of us ad much as those who's daddy bought them the latest kit and machinery and paid someone to prepare it.
When arguing with a fool, be sure the other person is not doing the same thing.