2016 Williams Martini Racing F1 Team - Mercedes

[LookBackTime]

From 2010!
Ferrari's 11-year-old wunderkind beats F1 driver in karting competition

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/ferr ... ting-comp/

[edu2703]

I'm still putting my money on Bottas/Nasr. Nasr since he was a test driver in 2014 for Williams.

What can influence the decisions of Williams: First, Petrobras (Williams sponsor) is a Brazilian oil company. I don't need to say anything more...

Second: Felipe Massa. He is still a Williams driver and has a lot of respect in the team. Of course he will try to convince Clarie Williams to hire Nasr.

Moreover, Clarie Williams has said that Williams needs experienced drivers. Rob Smedley reaffirmed what Clarie Williams said. They will hire an inexperienced driver like Stroll after everything they said?

[Powy]

Felipe Massa's Proud F1 Career

[Pierce89]

I hope Williams is spending every penny they can gather on 2017 aero. Without a large PU advantage, it might be ugly for Williams.

[Mr Brooksy]

I hope Williams is spending every penny they can gather on 2017 aero. Without a large PU advantage, it might be ugly for Williams.

I hope that since they can't get Button, they spend whatever they need to to secure James Allison.

[Pierce89]

I hope Williams is spending every penny they can gather on 2017 aero. Without a large PU advantage, it might be ugly for Williams.

I hope that since they can't get Button, they spend whatever they need to to secure James Allison.

I guess. I've never really been THAT impressed with him,though. I realize circumstances worked against him, but he never achieved much at Ferrari at all. Enstone DID have a very deep pool of talent that flattered him, I believe.

[Mr Brooksy]

I hope Williams is spending every penny they can gather on 2017 aero. Without a large PU advantage, it might be ugly for Williams.

I hope that since they can't get Button, they spend whatever they need to to secure James Allison.

I guess. I've never really been THAT impressed with him,though. I realize circumstances worked against him, but he never achieved much at Ferrari at all. Enstone DID have a very deep pool of talent that flattered him, I believe.

I don't doubt that Enstone had the talent to back him up, but if you consider that without some significant change in the aero department Williams are only ever going to achieve the same or similar level that they are at now.

Allison may not have achieved what everyone thought he would at Ferrari, but let's face it at the beginning of the season before his personal life fell apart they were much closer to Merc. I think before March, Ferrari and Allison's influence can be measured... Since his wife's sudden death, is a bit unfair to judge his actual ability.

And then there the old saying "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way hoping for a different different outcome" (can't remember the exact wording), but I'm fearful that without investing heavily into a top shelf aero head they are just doing the same thing the same way...

It's painful that Williams last WDC was 1997... 20 years ago...

[bill shoe]

I'm still putting my money on Bottas/Nasr. Nasr since he was a test driver in 2014 for Williams.

What can influence the decisions of Williams: First, Petrobras (Williams sponsor) is a Brazilian oil company. I don't need to say anything more...

Second: Felipe Massa. He is still a Williams driver and has a lot of respect in the team. Of course he will try to convince Clarie Williams to hire Nasr.

Moreover, Clarie Williams has said that Williams needs experienced drivers. Rob Smedley reaffirmed what Clarie Williams said. They will hire an inexperienced driver like Stroll after everything they said?

Stroll is well-prepared (extensive testing program at all permanent tracks) and brings $25 mill to the table (Saward implies). This fills a 2017 budget gap created by their lackluster performance this year. Frustrating this needs to be done, but I think Claire, Frank, et al. are making the right long-term decisions for the team.

Serious comment: Pay drivers now are much better qualified than in the past. Think Petrov, Maldonado, etc. They were not the quickest on the grid but they were only a few tenths off or even less. 30 years ago when I started following F1 a typical pay-driver was easily 2 or 4 seconds off. And they didn't pay as much either.

[pocttopus]

25 millions dollars!? That's half of the money which Maldonado had?

Sent from my Redmi 3S using Tapatalk

[efuloni]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Stroll's performance in F3 isn't much because of his way better team? I mean, the kid is good, but its like if he was in F1 driving a Merc... We need to be patient.

I also believe that it is too soon. Let him go to GP3 or GP2 for at least one season while he buys some friday practices. By the way, Bottas drove some fridays before getting in the cockpit and it worked. There's no reason to rush.

[edu2703]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Stroll's performance in F3 isn't much because of his way better team?

Yes. Prema Powerteam is dominating European F3 since 2012. The team is not better than the other teams only because it has the best drivers. The team's car has better performance than others cars. Being the best team is easy to win the championship. Only needs to be better than your teammates.

[edu2703]

There's no reason to rush.

Maybe the desperation of Williams for money may be the reason for rush.

[edu2703]

If I were Clarie Williams, I would hire Lance Stroll and Felipe Nasr. Then I will have two drivers that would bring money to the team. Something similar happened in 2012 when Willians hire Bruno Senna alongside Pastor Maldonado.

Now a question: Bottas has signed with Williams? There is any rumor coming from a trusted source talking about it?

[Pierce89]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Stroll's performance in F3 isn't much because of his way better team?

Yes. Prema Powerteam is dominating European F3 since 2012. The team is not better than the other teams only because it has the best drivers. The team's car has better performance than others cars. Being the best team is easy to win the championship. Only needs to be better than your teammates.

Its not simple. VAR and Motopark are virtually as good as Prema,Carlin ain't too shabby either.

[edu2703]

Stroll is overrated driver: Yes

Although he's pulled himself together since his race ban and was outperforming Leclerc for the last rounds of last year, but he's not worthy of an F1 seat strictly based on his results.

Unfortunately money talks louder.