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Gone are the days when pure racing teams have a proper chance in F1. Even McLaren produce road cars nowadays.

Covalent wrote:Gone are the days when pure racing teams have a proper chance in F1. Even McLaren produce road cars nowadays.

Ironically, the only team that they joked about (an energy drinks company) is probably the only one of the top teams that doesn't make road cars!!!

Reports suggest that Kubica will be signed as a reserve driver for Williams:
http://en.f1i.com/news/289973-kubica-si ... river.html

UnlikeUday wrote:Reports suggest that Kubica will be signed as a reserve driver for Williams:
http://en.f1i.com/news/289973-kubica-si ... river.html

Hopefully he might get some FP1 sessions.

Here comes the news:
http://www.williamsf1.com/racing/news/2 ... rollin2018

I was still hoping against hope that Kubica would get it, but that was the romantic inside me!

Good luck Sergey

Siao7 wrote:I was still hoping against hope that Kubica would get it, but that was the romantic inside me!

Good luck Sergey

With Sirotkin being signed, Stroll can breathe a sigh of relief. But you never know how Sirotkin performs. Somehow Williams have worked around the Martini rule of either driver being above 25 years of age.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Siao7 wrote:I was still hoping against hope that Kubica would get it, but that was the romantic inside me!

Good luck Sergey

With Sirotkin being signed, Stroll can breathe a sigh of relief. But you never know how Sirotkin performs. Somehow Williams have worked around the Martini rule of either driver being above 25 years of age.

Well, if they sign Kubica as a reserve driver/model for the drinking campaign then they are sorted. Model being a loose term here, as he is not famous for his looks!

Kubica. Just confirmed as test and reserve driver. Great news

UnlikeUday wrote:

Siao7 wrote:I was still hoping against hope that Kubica would get it, but that was the romantic inside me!

Good luck Sergey

With Sirotkin being signed, Stroll can breathe a sigh of relief. But you never know how Sirotkin performs. Somehow Williams have worked around the Martini rule of either driver being above 25 years of age.

I thought that Sirotkin was quicker than Kubica in the tests?

Can I change the topic title to "Williams uninspiring driver line up for 2018" now then?

for williams sake i hope that sergey thoroughly outperforms stroll to at least massa level. at least then they will know they have at least one half decent driver. if not you are looking at 2 drivers that are probably 6-8 tenths off the best. maybe more at some tracks and less at others, but that is a lot of car development to try and negate those losses.

Stroll 6th quick at daytona 24, alonso 13 th.

spiritone wrote:Stroll 6th quick at daytona 24, alonso 13 th.

Wasn't it Frijns rather than Stroll that went 6th quick? (In the faster Oreca).
And Alonso was the fastest Ligier?

On the qualifying sheet it lists stroll as driver in qualifying.

spiritone wrote:On the qualifying sheet it lists stroll as driver in qualifying.

Frijns did the qualifying.

mikeyg123 wrote:

spiritone wrote:On the qualifying sheet it lists stroll as driver in qualifying.

Frijns did the qualifying.

True.

spiritone wrote:On the qualifying sheet it lists stroll as driver in qualifying.

The driver with the name in italics is the one who set the fastest lap in qualifying, which is what determines their grid spot.

It's irrelevant anyway, since the Stroll car and the Alonso car aren't the same at all.

Exediron wrote:

spiritone wrote:On the qualifying sheet it lists stroll as driver in qualifying.

The driver with the name in italics is the one who set the fastest lap in qualifying, which is what determines their grid spot.

It's irrelevant anyway, since the Stroll car and the Alonso car aren't the same at all.

Same class though LMP2. Spec engine with different chassis.
That being said though, the team can make all the difference in endurance racing and Jackie Chan is a much more experienced team.

Stroll 2nd quick in last practice. Funny how on qualifying recap on IMSA website he was mentioned as driver, all the websites that covered qualifying listed him as driver. Strange.

RaggedMan wrote:

Exediron wrote:It's irrelevant anyway, since the Stroll car and the Alonso car aren't the same at all.

Same class though LMP2. Spec engine with different chassis.
That being said though, the team can make all the difference in endurance racing and Jackie Chan is a much more experienced team.

Yeah, same class, but the classes are really broad. For that matter, a Mercedes and a Williams are the same class, and have the same engine in them...

Siao7 wrote: Somehow Williams have worked around the Martini rule of either driver being above 25 years of age.

IIRC, this is the last year of the original Williams/Martini deal. We might be looking at Mclaren-Martini next year?

So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

Well Stroll could be a better sportscar driver than Alonso. Who knows? But Even if Alonso is better by a second he's not going to be able a two second car deficit is he?

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

It's true Stroll has a quicker car so yeah it's pretty logical. I think you'll find the same logic on any forum that knows the differences between the UA-Ligier and the JC-Jota-Oreca.

But no-one said Stroll was such a bad driver and Alonso is God, that's all you since you got the quali info wrong. As mikeyg points out Stroll might well be a quicker sportscar driver than Alonso, but Frijns qualifying a faster car higher than Alonso certainly isn't going to prove it I'm afraid.

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

Alonso is in an inferior car: all but one of the Orecas in the field qualified ahead of him, and the only one that didn't was just a tenth behind. And since Alonso's car was a full second ahead of the nearest other Ligier, whereas Stroll's car didn't even qualify fastest of the Orecas, I think you could make an argument that Alonso's talent did bridge part of the gap. Not all of it though, because it's too big.

I don't know why you're so belligerent on the possibility that Stroll might not be a match for Alonso at this point in his career. He's a rookie, and Alonso is quite possibly an all-time great. Why does Lance need to be one of the very best right now? That's just unreasonable, and it sets you up for creating unreasonable arguments that you'll lose. I'm with you on believing Lance is nowhere near as bad as people make him out to be, but there's a big gap between that and saying he's on Alonso's level.

Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

spiritone wrote:Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Lotus49 wrote:Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Not if Vandoorne doesn't pick up the pace in 2018, they won't...

Exediron wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Not if Vandoorne doesn't pick up the pace in 2018, they won't...

Norris is still young. Only 18, he has plenty of time. Vandoorne would have to be very poor to be replaced for 2019. As long as he improves a bit he'll be OK. Most drivers improve a lot in their second seasons. I think it's underplayed how difficult a rookie season is. Bottas is the only driver on the grid to outscore an experienced team mate in his rookie season.

Exediron wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Not if Vandoorne doesn't pick up the pace in 2018, they won't...

Fair point. I'm hopeful he'll show more consistency with a better PU. More pre-season and Free Practice running can't hurt for a start.

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

It's true Stroll has a quicker car so yeah it's pretty logical. I think you'll find the same logic on any forum that knows the differences between the UA-Ligier and the JC-Jota-Oreca.

But no-one said Stroll was such a bad driver and Alonso is God, that's all you since you got the quali info wrong. As mikeyg points out Stroll might well be a quicker sportscar driver than Alonso, but Frijns qualifying a faster car higher than Alonso certainly isn't going to prove it I'm afraid.

Would I be correct in saying the faster driver does the qualifying or is the qualifying session shared out?

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Norris was faster than Alonso?

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

It's true Stroll has a quicker car so yeah it's pretty logical. I think you'll find the same logic on any forum that knows the differences between the UA-Ligier and the JC-Jota-Oreca.

But no-one said Stroll was such a bad driver and Alonso is God, that's all you since you got the quali info wrong. As mikeyg points out Stroll might well be a quicker sportscar driver than Alonso, but Frijns qualifying a faster car higher than Alonso certainly isn't going to prove it I'm afraid.

Would I be correct in saying the faster driver does the qualifying or is the qualifying session shared out?

Teams pick one guy but I don't know if they go for outright speed or opening stint ability as the quali driver has to start the race.

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Norris was faster than Alonso?

His FL was a tenth quicker than Alonso's yeah and I think his overall stint avg was just quicker as well but I'm not 100% sure. There's obviously a lot of traffic in a 24hr race and he dealt with the only wet stint so I don't really know how they work it out but I read he was quicker anyway.

His stint in the changing conditions was the best thing about it, only Conway was anywhere near his pace iirc and he had a quicker car. Very,very impressive all round.

Lotus49 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:So alonso is in the inferior car and stroll is only quicker because he has the better car, is that the logic? Well since stroll is such a bad driver and alonso is god, shouldn't he be able to easily bridge that gap? Always love the logic on this forum.

It's true Stroll has a quicker car so yeah it's pretty logical. I think you'll find the same logic on any forum that knows the differences between the UA-Ligier and the JC-Jota-Oreca.

But no-one said Stroll was such a bad driver and Alonso is God, that's all you since you got the quali info wrong. As mikeyg points out Stroll might well be a quicker sportscar driver than Alonso, but Frijns qualifying a faster car higher than Alonso certainly isn't going to prove it I'm afraid.

Would I be correct in saying the faster driver does the qualifying or is the qualifying session shared out?

Teams pick one guy but I don't know if they go for outright speed or opening stint ability as the quali driver has to start the race.

Fair enough.

I did endurance kart racing and the norm there was for the fastest driver to do both the qualifying and the first stint.

Lotus49 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Norris was faster than Alonso?

His FL was a tenth quicker than Alonso's yeah and I think his overall stint avg was just quicker as well but I'm not 100% sure. There's obviously a lot of traffic in a 24hr race and he dealt with the only wet stint so I don't really know how they work it out but I read he was quicker anyway.

His stint in the changing conditions was the best thing about it, only Conway was anywhere near his pace iirc and he had a quicker car. Very,very impressive all round.

I did read how Alonso was impressed by Norris' stint in the wet conditions.

He seems a driver destined for F1?

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

spiritone wrote:Belligerent, Really. I needle you guys a bit and i'm belligerent. Hey! you make comments about stroll and i defend him. Lighten up.

I admire drivers like alonso, hamilton and even stroll who have managed to get to F1. Not easy to get there and even harder to stay there. Is stroll a better sportscar driver than alonso, who knows. Just having a little fun.

I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Norris was faster than Alonso?

His FL was a tenth quicker than Alonso's yeah and I think his overall stint avg was just quicker as well but I'm not 100% sure. There's obviously a lot of traffic in a 24hr race and he dealt with the only wet stint so I don't really know how they work it out but I read he was quicker anyway.

His stint in the changing conditions was the best thing about it, only Conway was anywhere near his pace iirc and he had a quicker car. Very,very impressive all round.

I did read how Alonso was impressed by Norris' stint in the wet conditions.

He seems a driver destined for F1?

Absolutely yeah and I know I keep going on about it but that wet stint really was something special. On the qualifying I'd guess Alonso got the gig just for experience (In general rather than sportscar) and dealing with the start. You can't win a 24hr race in the first stint but you can lose it so maybe they felt an old head would be better than youthful exuberance as Phil wasn't close to those two guys pace at all and he was the (relatively) experienced guy in the threesome.

Or Alo just asked to do it and Zak said yeah.

Lotus49 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Lotus49 wrote:I think we do now and it didn't look like it. Alonso was faster but Lando was faster than both. Those two were the fastest LMP2 drivers out there with a slower car, very impressive.

Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Norris was faster than Alonso?

His FL was a tenth quicker than Alonso's yeah and I think his overall stint avg was just quicker as well but I'm not 100% sure. There's obviously a lot of traffic in a 24hr race and he dealt with the only wet stint so I don't really know how they work it out but I read he was quicker anyway.

His stint in the changing conditions was the best thing about it, only Conway was anywhere near his pace iirc and he had a quicker car. Very,very impressive all round.

I did read how Alonso was impressed by Norris' stint in the wet conditions.

He seems a driver destined for F1?

Absolutely yeah and I know I keep going on about it but that wet stint really was something special. On the qualifying I'd guess Alonso got the gig just for experience (In general rather than sportscar) and dealing with the start. You can't win a 24hr race in the first stint but you can lose it so maybe they felt an old head would be better than youthful exuberance as Phil wasn't close to those two guys pace at all and he was the (relatively) experienced guy in the threesome.

Or Alo just asked to do it and Zak said yeah.

Personally I think Alonso was the man for the job in qualy. He got as good a job done as was reasonably possible and put in a serious first stint. But what Norris did in the wet stint just blew the doors off their hinges. Only he and Mike Conway were running similar times. And Conway's Cadillac was most definitely a step above in performance

Lotus49 wrote:Very impressed with Norris, his stint in the wet was superb too and I think Macca are going to be in a pickle as to what to do for 2019 driver wise.

Not at all, if it came down to that the obvious answer would be to boot Vandoorne.