Williams Confirms Bottas and Stroll for 2017

[fortyfivekev]

Sad fact, most guys in F1 today had some kind of rich sponsor/backer when they were young. Only difference is this guy's backer is his dad. When he goes wheel-to-wheel with people like Hamilton or Alonso no amount of his dad's cash will hide a lack of ability and as Lorenzo says in the meantime Williams get the money to stay competitive which is only a good thing.

 

[Dovi design]

Damnit, I was hoping for Maldonado to comeback
I guess PDVSA ran out of money

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

I'm quite much into F3 and have to say that this rumor just came up within the last few weeks of the season, when it was kinda clear that Stroll will race in F1. Would love to hear your sources, if you have some

@Ole Marius Myrvold
The rumours came up at the beginning of this season. While behind closed doors (I can't remember it exactly) even maybe his team mates complained about it, noone claimed it in the open for certain reasons. Source is German magazine "Motorsport aktuell". This way I knew about Stroll to Williams in July round about btw.
Sad is, seeing now how he crushed any opposition, they really didn't need to give orders to drivers... He clearly dominated his team mates, unless the other cars were slowed down by the team, which seems ridiculous
I only heard about team orders the first two race weekends.

Sorry if anything is wrong in my memory...

 

[10phillyphan]

Well, I am extremely happy to see a Canadian in F1 again! Close enough to the US to root for!

 

[Mark Aalberts]

Will be most interesting to see if J. Villeneuve stays with his opinion about age. He was one of the biggest criticasters of Max about his age when he got signed. And now we have another 18 year old kid making the plunge into F1 coming from his home country.

Anyway I am not going to Judge Lance right now, since I only know him from his first F3 season which he drove with Ocon and Max. But it is nice to see another driver from that same generation making it trough,..ahum well getting bought in for now then.

Anyway with the backup he has I don't think he has to worry much about his F1 career. Bottas will show how good the kid really is, and for sure there is some talent there since only a healthy wallet doesn't automatically make you a F3 champ.

 

[Colin Knowles]

It's amazing what money can buy you these days

 

[TobiasR]

It's amazing what money can buy you these days

And some still say money can't buy happiness.

 

[Constantin Grimminger]

@Ole Marius Myrvold
The rumours came up at the beginning of this season. While behind closed doors (I can't remember it exactly) even maybe his team mates complained about it, noone claimed it in the open for certain reasons. Source is German magazine "Motorsport aktuell". This way I knew about Stroll to Williams in July round about btw.
Sad is, seeing now how he crushed any opposition, they really didn't need to give orders to drivers... He clearly dominated his team mates, unless the other cars were slowed down by the team, which seems ridiculous
I only heard about team orders the first two race weekends.

Sorry if anything is wrong in my memory...

That's very interesting! Guess I've just missed the rumours then.

That would also explain some frustration of the Prema drivers I've seen across the season. Had the luck to meet the guys at the Red Bull Ring rounds this season and yeah, despite some good results in R1 a Nick Cassidy wasn't really happy... that's a good example, in my opinion.

However, you're right when you say that Prema really didn't need to give orders to their drivers.

 

[Tim Lundy]

I find it laughable that so many people moan about money being involved in Lance's success. Why do you think F1 is dominated by Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull? Are they out there on a shoe string, fighting for the little guy, full of heart but with only lint in his pockets? If Lance's father hadn't funded his F3 efforts but the team had done the exact same things with someone else's money, how would that make it any different?

Racing is about money. It only exists because of money. To bemoan someone succeeding because of money is hilarious. I'd understand if his Dad spent a fortune and he finished halfway down the field in F3 and then bought his way into F1, but that's not what happened. He trounced the field. All the money in the world doesn't give you pace and consistency, with or without funding, those things you prove on the track.

 

[PsyaNyde]

I wonder how life is when you have zero worries about money and when you can have anything you like. Must be ****ing nice.

Unfortunately most of us will never know, saving up for a comp upgrade takes me forever, everytime I earn a piffling bit extra, the govt or the wife finds a new way to relieve me of it

 

[Deleted member 130869]

I find it laughable that so many people moan about money being involved in Lance's success. Why do you think F1 is dominated by Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull? Are they out there on a shoe string, fighting for the little guy, full of heart but with only lint in his pockets?

OT - Fortunately there are strong rumors about Liberty Media going after some longstanding penciled-in unfavorable agreements. Rumors have it that among other things, Ferrari's veto power and additional revenue will no longer be present in the 2020 Concord Agreement proposal.

 

[AndrewBo]

Unfortunately most of us will never know, saving up for a comp upgrade takes me forever, everytime I earn a piffling bit extra, the govt or the wife finds a new way to relieve me of it

 

[paracletus]

botass quite fortunate to keep the williams seat; apart from the canada 3rd hasn't really been giving consistently good performances in the williams this year.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

And it looks like Ocon to Force India, and a large reduction in their debit with Mercedes ($13 million benefit).

 

[Stefan Woudenberg]

I thought Ocon was connected with Renault . ...

 

[Deleted member 130869]

I thought so too, especially being French and all

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

Ocon has giöot ties with both Renault (see hos F3 livery) and Mercedes from his DTM seat.
Usually Mercedes are preferring Wehrlein over Ocon, so Ocon to Force India is surprising to me. Lewis and Nico should have long contracts.