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Lawrence Stroll: "Lance earned his place in Formula 1"

Published on 01 Jun 2017 11:59
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By: Fergal Walsh

Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams driver Lance has denied that his son is faltering under the pressure being dished his way. Stroll's career has got off to a rocky start after only seeing the chequered flag in two of the six races he's contested in so far.

Stroll was announced as a Williams driver at the end of last season but has so far struggled to match the pace of veteran Felipe Massa. Stroll senior says that the only pressure he is feeling is from himself.

"The pressure he has is that which he puts on himself," he told Le Journal de Montreal newspaper. "I am only his father. There are professionals everywhere who are paid to handle it and a team that is very satisfied with his behaviour and his progress."

Next up on the calendar is the Canadian Grand Prix. Stroll will be the first Canadian driver to race at home since Jacques Villeneuve in 2006. Stroll senior also said that 2017 is one of the toughest years ever for a rookie due to the new cars, and it will take time for him to learn.

"For sure there is jealousy," he said. "But I want to stress that Lance earned his place in Formula 1. He won everywhere he went and the (license) points that he needed, he went and got them. This is probably the toughest year for a youngster to start in F1, with even the teams not always understanding exactly what is going on. So you cannot ask an 18-year-old to do it alone."

As for the 'pay driver' label, Lance Stroll's father said: "There is not a driver here who has not been supported by millions. Take Sergio Perez. How do you think it happened for him?"

Another rookie in F1 is Stoffel Vandoorne, but Stroll said any comparison between the Belgian and the Williams driver is not fair: "There are two points," he said. "The first is that Vandoorne is 24 or 25, not 18 like Lance. And the second is that the gap between Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso is larger than the gap between Lance and Felipe Massa."

Fergal Walsh

Nikeros

Posts: 10

You gotta love these billionaires. They live in these isolated bubbles and think that the things they attain through money will be misconstrued by a jealous public as talent and therefore make them worthy of accolades and esteem. "I am only his father. There are professionals everywhere who are p... [Read more]

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Jun 1 2017 - 15:19

F1 News Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa Sergio Perez Stoffel Vandoorne Lance Stroll Williams

Replies (7)

Vet5

Posts: 225
Toughest year for rookies? look at Ocon, ok he was in a seat for the last part of the season last year. Shock daddy Stroll is on the defence, I will give it another couple of races and I'm sure Williams would rather have crashtor
- + 1
- Jun 1 2017 - 12:36
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  Williams has him for the long term, they knew he'd struggle. I don't get all this Stroll hate, just let the kid drive, let him progress. Ocon has 2 years more racing experience also
  + 1
  
  Jun 1 2017 - 12:47
Nikeros

Posts: 10
You gotta love these billionaires. They live in these isolated bubbles and think that the things they attain through money will be misconstrued by a jealous public as talent and therefore make them worthy of accolades and esteem. "I am only his father. There are professionals everywhere who are paid to handle it and a team that is very satisfied with his behaviour and his progress." Muahahaha daddy, you jest.
- + 2
- Jun 1 2017 - 15:19
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
Pretty pathetic to be hating on someone because of their net worth. He said exactly what you would expect a dad to say about.

Let's get some facts (no opinions straight):

- Lance DID earn his way to an F1 seat by winning in each category

- Lance is severely underachieving in Formula 1 so far. The comparison to Stoffel is absurd given the reliability and performance differential between the two McLaren's. Also most importantly, Massa is no Fernando Alonso!

- If there are two fast drivers and one has very good financial backing, it is a reasonable thing to choose the one with strong financial backing.

- Lance still has a few races to justify his place in F1. However, if there are no flashes of brilliance (at least once) then he clearly needs to go and make way for real talent.

- Whether it's your daddy, your country, or a corporation, every good driver has (or eventually gets) serious financial backing . There is nothing inherently wrong (if anything it would be quite awesome) to have a billionaire father.
- + 0
- Jun 1 2017 - 17:38
- Vet5
  
  Posts: 225
  Won each category? Where did he come in GP3, GP2? I'm not hating on him due to the riches he came from, but has he wow'd you? Has he shown any true potential? Has he gotten the results needed? No point mentioning Stoffel, he is in a car that is unreliable, but he did come 10th in last years Bahrain GP with an underpowered Honda. Yeah I understand most people come into the sport with massive financial backing, but it should go back to the old days where you were offered the seat on merit, not cash.
  + 0
  
  Jun 2 2017 - 08:35
- Bhurt
  
  Posts: 320
  You have the best username on the internet. Props!
  + 0
  
  Jun 2 2017 - 20:43
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
What we need to remember is that in the majority of the cases were retirements out of his control. He has had some bad luck. Give him this year and a bit of the next. If he hasnt improved, there are plenty of other drivers around.
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- Jun 1 2017 - 19:48