F1 End of Season Report: Rate the Grid - Lance Stroll

[Paul Jeffrey]

Next up in our end of season 'Rate the Grid' feature articles is Canadian teenager and Williams rookie Lance Stroll.

Something of a controversial signing for Williams in the winter of 2016, Lance Stroll came with plenty of doubters to his Formula One pedigree thanks to his fathers Canadian billions, with many rightly doubtful if the then 17-year-old driver was up to the challenge of driving for former World Championship winning team Williams Mercedes.

Not setting any fires in his early outings the naysayers began to rejocice in the early season struggles for "Mr. Eyebrows", however Stroll ended his season strongly and even managed to secure the only podium of the season for Williams, but did he do enough to deserve his seat in Grand Prix racing in his own right, or does the substantial backing that follows this controversial driver do more for his prospects than driving talent alone?

Vote now to tell us how you rate the 2017 season for Lance Stroll, and leave a comment below!

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[Maurits Vernel]

Not the fastest driver around, but also did not go by what was expected of him; he was not a complete embarrassment either. I also still don't know why he seemed to brake just before the finish line at Baku, letting Bottas past.

The gap with Massa was too big, though, and he will have to improve next year.

Verdict; 5.

 

[Jimlaad43]

He's done enough to prove he deserves to be in F1.

Next season, he needs to prove he deserves to stay in F1. 5

 

[Jan Larsen]

Terrible in the beginning, lucked massively into a podium, ok'ish midway through, sucked in the end. 3.

 

[samcar304]

From the man himself "8.5"...

 

[Sky]

I still think he looks like the old tv hulk

 

[Frietpan]

a 1, im pretty sure there is a better driver out there with less money... 100% sure.

 

[Knoxstar]

If you think back to the off season and what he was probably rated as a prospect his on track performance is leaps and bounds better with much room to improve still to come in a car/formula he is now somewhat familiar with and with tracks he has now driven on. His wet qualy surprised everyone, his demeanor was polite, humble but hinting at confidence. He never came across in interviews as a Grojean or Mags. Any rookie driver is going to have to fight to get the set-up they want and rightfully so as they just don't know the first time around. I'll wait to see how year 2 is and if Williams can deliver a car with some aero downforce like Red Bull, McLaren and the Ferrari and Mercs. I gave him a 6 based on how new he is not what money he came with.

 

[Zenvioux]

I can't stop going back on forth on this guy. He obviously has talent within him as seen in Italy and the other races hes matched/surpassed Massa in. However it seems ever so clear that a season in F2 would likely have solved his disastrous first 4 races. Who knows, he controls his own destiny, as a good 2018 season will rid him of pay-driver status.

 

[Nick Gregory]

I give a 5. Didn't bin it every race, but with a couple of exceptions, nothing spectacular.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I also still don't know why he seemed to brake just before the finish line at Baku, letting Bottas past.

Brake before the finish line, are you serious? Mercedes had top speed advantage over other teams and that along with DRS + slipstream gave easily 20 km/h advantage for Bottas.

Stroll was terrible pretty much everywhere except for Monza qualification (rain) and the Baku weekend, where to be fair Massa had bad luck and would probably have finished ahead without his DNF. 3 out of 10.

 

[Michel Forest]

I don't understand the level of animosity directed at the guy. You'd think he's the first rich kid who ever drove an F1 car. Get over it, folks, no one gets to F1 with talent alone these days, you need a lot of money from whatever source you can find. People forget he won the 2016 F3 title. I think he should have done a year in F2 with a few Friday morning sessions in F1. 18 is just too young to race in F1. I blame his dad for pushing him up to F1 too quickly. In the end, he struggled to adapt, that's true, but he had some very good performances (Baku, Montreal, qualifying 4th in Monza in the rain). His big problem is qualifying, something he will need to improve. Also, he was driving a very bad car, that did not help. So, a 6 for this season. However, 2018 will show what he's really capable of.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

A slow car, that's the problem for him.
He shows some speed (sometimes), he showed that he could fight until the end, and save a result, but He unfortunately showed that a f1 driver could be more than 1 second off in quali (vs his teamate)...His season is composed of some (rare) up, and lots of (big) down.
But....I still believe that He could do it, He could be a great driver....Gone on F1 too early, that's sure.
Gave him a 4/10 ... i have nothing against the guy, but his season was really bad.
We'll see next year, against an "easy" teamate (nomaters if it's Sirotkin or Kubica)
@++

 

[PartyPePe]

This driver flat spotted his tires so many times during the races, what an embarrassment

 

[apex11]

Proof that with enough money anyone could be in F1 aged 18.
His Dad has given him the best since his first time in karts right through to paying for 10 Williams tech / engineers to meet him at tracks to practice in a few seasons old F1 car, plus his Daddy paid for Williams posh new sim which Stroll could use like his own...

With all of that practice anyone could do it....
He was not born to do it and just happened to be lucky enough coincidence his Daddy was a billionaire....he could of wanted to be tennis player and he's of had the best tennis coaching in the world and maybe been in the top 20 tennis players....

Just my opinion on him, you don't need to prove me wrong, its not a game, I wont back down and I'm not a 'hater'.....
Thanks...

 

[Matthew Allington]

What a strange season. At the start it looked like he could barely handle the car, but after Canada it looked like he had more confidence and was getting the hang of things. Monza quali was very impressive. Alas, it was not as simple as that - the last few races of his were absolutely woeful and as a result my rating of him has plummeted.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Whilst I hate the notion that money talks (SEIZE THE MEANS OF PROMOTION) it should be noted that Niki Lauda, Micheal Schumacher and Fernando Alonso all started their careers as pay drivers. I am *not* going to argue that Lance is on the same level as those drivers, but pay driving has always been a critical part of the shape of the sport.

 

[apex11]

Whilst I hate the notion that money talks (SEIZE THE MEANS OF PROMOTION) it should be noted that Niki Lauda, Micheal Schumacher and Fernando Alonso all started their careers as pay drivers. I am *not* going to argue that Lance is on the same level as those drivers, but pay driving has always been a critical part of the shape of the sport.

Yes which is why its a rich persons game. With football we know who is great, we can see it and they could not of paid money to get to play for Barca...
With Motorsport they could just be in the best equipment and simply if you want you kid to race in F1 just follow Stroll's Daddy's blueprint.
So many posh kids and posh blokes at the top levels and full of gentleman drivers and kids of rich dads.
Oh well...we must all bow down and call them driving Gods though...

 

[Maurits Vernel]

A more apt comparison is Pedro Diniz.

 

[apex11]

A more apt comparison is Pedro Diniz.

Totally yes.

Also there is a difference between someone being backed by sponsors or even a country in Maldonardo's case, than someone who just has a rich Daddy.
Sponsors want a return so they gravitate to success, Maldonardo whatever people think of him was a clearly out of Venezuela one of the best drivers the country had, hence why they paid him to race F1 cars for a bit.
Alonso got personal sponsors because he was spotted as being better than others. Etc etc.

So far Stroll's Daddy purchased him a whole GP2 team in which everything was the best including ex Ferrari mechanics and engineers etc etc...only GP2 team with a wind tunnel etc.
Then paid for him to race F1 cars along with an F1 standard sim and an ex f1 car to go practice with along with his own personal 10 race engineers.....
Off the back of that, i'd of expected him to be better in all honestly....