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The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Discussion started by Gunk , 29 April, 2017 17:17
The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Gunk 29 April, 2017 17:17
(I thought I'd keep this as an on-going thread, as there will obviously be no team-mate battle)

At the beginning of the year, following the departure of Pat and Bot, I wondered what would be our weakest link in 2017. The car, Massa, or both. But turns out it's neither.

With all the talk of regrouping and getting Paddy on board for 2018, I thought carrying a rookie for an investment year wouldn't make much difference. I got that wrong too.

I think most of us have been surprised at how unprepared Lance was for F1. And I'm trying to think of similar drivers.

Alguersuari was the youngest ever guy to enter F1 prior to Max, also to much criticism. Like Lance, he also totally dominated F3, thereby 'earning his place.'

In his first year and a half in F1, he scored just 3 points. But by 2011, he was beating his more experienced team mate (Buemi) and finished the season only one point behind Paul Di Resta in a far superior Force India car.

I think the question in all this is, how long do you give someone to prove themselves? Grosjean was relegated back to GP2 after a few races. Pantano also. Piquet Jnr got a season and a half. Hulk and Senna got just one year at Williams. (Senna not entirely
a rookie of course, but still a newbie.)

Alguersuari retired from motorsport at the ripe old age of 25.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Mehryar 29 April, 2017 18:28
For me I woyld wait until half season to see if he has a future.
But so far somethings are obvious.
he will cost us a place atleast in wcc standing this year.
He ain't no Max, not even a sainz too.
Atm, he is just terrible.I don't buy "he is a rookie" excuse to accept his 1sec gap to Fellipe...It's not a finishing school, this is F1, if he is not ready, he shouldn't compete here.Whether Felipe was good in early 2016 or not, he was far behind Bottas when season finished.so let's start from where he finished: he is not a top driver anymore and to be 1sec off his pace is the worst sign possible.

The worst part is he is here to stay.for sure there's a long term partnership between his family and our team so better wish he will start to perform as soon as we hit the european season.



http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1095/mehryarsigyo7.gif

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Damon96 29 April, 2017 18:37
Hulk isn't a good example - he only dropped out after 1 season because we needed cash, Grosjean is probably a better example - he really was crash prone but really sorted himself out. Some people get straight in and ace things - Lewis / Max - others take time. We knew he wasn't the next Max so lets not worry and just hope he gets some race distance under his belt. He's missed out on over what 150 laps of race distance so far - he needs to get some mileage under his belt before we throw him to the wolves.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Gunk 29 April, 2017 20:11
Quote:
Damon96
Hulk isn't a good example - he only dropped out after 1 season because we needed cash

I don't accept that. We could have had Hulk - Maldonado. Adam Parr made the decision. Aided by Sam M, who didn't rate Hulk at all, plus the long term spat between Hulk's manager, who was also Ralf's manager, and had extorted money from Williams for years.

Cashwise, Barrichello was probably more expensive than Hulk.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Mehryar 29 April, 2017 20:46
Oh really? Adam Parr decided on Hulk departure?! Didn't know that, otherwise I could dislike him even more.



http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1095/mehryarsigyo7.gif

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
AlanJones 29 April, 2017 20:48
I'm not going to make a statement on Lance this time. I'll let Crusty lure me out with his defense on Lance.

*Giggles and whispers something with 1 second gap*




https://i.ibb.co/BsYLL8h/1992-Formula1-Williams-FW14-B-001-1440-01.jpg




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29/04/2017 20:48 by AlanJones.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Gunk 29 April, 2017 21:40
Quote:
Mehryar

The worst part is he is here to stay.for sure there's a long term partnership between his family and our team so better wish he will start to perform as soon as we hit the european season.

I'm not so sure about that. Stroll Senior doesn't own any shares in Williams according to the Frankfurt Stock exchange. It's a sponsorship arrangement, as far as I understand.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Alt Right Duff 30 April, 2017 02:24
This thread is 2 months late. Like alan, there is no need for me to add anything here.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
MartiniSalad 30 April, 2017 11:29
The kid's thrown in at the deep end. Give him a chance to swim. To think, if we'd missed out on some of the sport's late bloomers... Point is, it's 3 races for an 18 year old kid. My neck would snap, so credit to his for standing firm and not flopping to the sides like an exotic but very much dead fish. Remember that. Least he's not a dead fish. Always a silver lining.



You can only get over your fears if you attack them head on - Mika Hakkinen

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
AlanJones 30 April, 2017 13:10
And let's see how Crusty defends Lance spinning when the safety car was deployed..




https://i.ibb.co/BsYLL8h/1992-Formula1-Williams-FW14-B-001-1440-01.jpg

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
crusty_bread 30 April, 2017 16:41
Well the obvious, superficial answer to "How's Lance going" is not very well at the moment. 0 points in 4 races in a points-potential car, beaten by his teammate 4-0 in qualifying, never within 0.5 tenths when the final flag falls on a saturday, rarely running in the points if at all, and with the final race being a clear case of throwing away points through pure driver-error. This is stating the obvious. Most drivers would have achieved more in that Williams by now- with the exception of Palmer and possibly Ericsson. He is clearly entering F1 at a pretty scrappy level.

But Gunk asks the real question here, "how long do you give someone to prove themselves?" and it's worth looking closer at what exactly is going on to understand the job Lance is doing.

Now the only driver we can truly compare Stroll to is Massa, and I do not believe Massa is driving as badly in 2017 as he was at the end of 2016. Why would you make the assumption that he was? My reasons are very clear. In 2016, Williams was drifting backwards, development had stopped, Massa was being outshone by Bottas, and he was about to be "retired" from the sport for a rookie with money. That is a miserable place to be, and highly unmotivating for a driver. His results tailed off, his consistently got worse, his speed all over the place, and it was clear from that that he was not maximising the pace of the car- veering between under-driving and overdriving.

This year, he is the team leader, in a team almost entirely dependent on him, with a lot of focus on development in a much faster and more enjoyable car to drive. He's obviously happy with himself and the team are happy with him. His form is consistent- his gap over the FI's each race is testament to that- and that says loud and clear that he is consistently close to the limit of the car. I have no doubt in my mind that we have an on-form Massa at the moment. Just look at his consistent laptimes, his qualifying positioning, his FP positioning, or Lowes' feedback- it all says the same thing. Massa has never been bad consistently, lap to lap. It is normally inconsistency of lap times that is a sign of a driver out of form. I patiently await someone try to disprove this claim rather than ignore it.

Thanks AJ for the argument spoilers. You titter over a 1 second gap, however this is singling out the worst comparative example from Russia- and adding 1 extra tenth for dramatic effect. It was 0.9 seconds in Q2- obviously a disappointing delta, but for the sake of consistency, we aught to titter at Jenson's third GP where Ralf qualified 5th 1.3 seconds faster than Button who was languishing down in 18th, struggling for confidence over the curbs in San Marino. It's very easy to forget just how scrappy rookies can be after we have been spoiled for several seasons by pretty consistent drivers. But this is a reality of our sport, and lest we forget, Stroll was improving in both the first and second sectors before making a mistake in the third sector of his final run which would have seen him easily through to Q3, so whilst the gap is his own fault, his potential speed was clearly better than that in qualifying.

However, Stroll's race pace in Russia was far better than qualifying. He was clearly not 1 second slower than Massa in terms of speed in clear air. He was stuck behind Kvyat in the opening stint- (admittedly his own fault) which affected his lap times, but he enjoyed some clear air after his pitstop and he started closing Sainz down as a result. lets compare laps 30-40 between Stroll and Massa. So I'm looking at 10 laps in the race where it counts most as opposed to just 1 lap in qualifying. I have picked those laps because Stroll and Massa were in clear air. Massa then pitted on lap 41 and Stroll started having to let the leaders through which messed up the data. Now in fairness, on lap 30, Massa had pitted 5 laps earlier than Stroll, and so was on 5 laps older tyres, however, tyre wear was extremely minimal on the harder tyres in Russia and as such, this represents the fairest comparison we can make.

Massa

1:39.680
1:39.723
1:39.667
1:39.630
1:39.919
1:39.865
1:39.969
1:39.928
1:39.881
1:39.889
1:39.907

Stroll
1:40.114 +0.5
1:40.481 +0.8
1:40.279 +0.6
1:39.930 +0.3
1:39.805 -0.1
1:39.759 -0.1
1:39.824 -0.1
1:39.694 -0.3
1:39.612 -0.2
1:39.987 +0.1
1:39.775 -0.2


So across 10 laps, when both were in clear air, Stroll was 1.3 seconds slower overall, or an average of 0.13 seconds slower per lap. Further, as he settled into the stint, on that fuel load and those tyres, 6 of the last 7 laps were actually faster than Massa's, closing a 2.2 second deficit down by 9 tenths gradually and consistently, and even more impressive is how consistent both driver's lap times were, suggesting each were maxing out their respective talents with the car and set up they had chosen. People argue they want to see Stroll at least able to match Massa, and whilst he is struggling to string a full weekend together, this is a clear indication to me that he capable of taking on Massa for pace already, in only his 4th GP.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 30/04/2017 17:22 by crusty_bread.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
andy si 30 April, 2017 17:26
I'm adding my 2 cents as well...

- for now we've seen his 4th GP ever.. the most impressive young drivers to excell in their 4th GP were Schumacher and Verstappen (there are others, but these two suffice for comparison)... both in a far superior machinery (Benetton factor included) but I may be mistaken AFAIK.
- Massa this year is benefiting from a car development going his way... as stated before the season start by himself as one of his demands for continuing with Williams. So for Lance to be level on representative race pace in Sochi, says a lot (by Crusty).
- to be honest, I've not seen Lance do multiple consecutive mistakes in race weekends, let's leave testing aside for now... I will amend my statement if and when he starts. So he is learning and improving.

For now I see him learning as he goes. Situations that led to his drops during races - he was mostly impeeded. I do believe and hope he learns quick and, sooner rather than later, starts maximizing his potential. Without incidents instigated by others or being able to predict them and avoid them from his side, he will do better. With his sponsorship and talent (hopefully) he is the next possible step for Williams' comeback.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
AlanJones 30 April, 2017 20:39
Well Crusty, you keep on referring to Button. 2000 was a time where the back marker always feared for the 107% rulings. Point being, competition has grown stronger. Manor averaged a 103% gap overall last year on the fastest times during qualifying. That's amazing compared to 2000 where many drivers fought to stay within 107%.
Now I know I'm being hard again, but the bloke cocked it up again. Not only was he desperately slower than Massa during qualifying, and 0.9 seconds is still a 1 second gap to any normal human being, he had the chance on splitting both force indias. He didn't because of his stupid spin and Force India just coasted to a good double finish. Despite us being the 4th fastest car on the grid, we don't have the points to show for it.

That leaves us indeed to the point at hand, how long will you give a guy the platform to prove himself before giving him a kick in his @#$%&. To me it's quite simple, the choice has been made. The lad has to keep his drive the whole season. It's not my favorite answer. But it's the right one. Tho he needs to get a proper talking to now. Because in every Grand Prix weekend, he has made a mistake or was falling really short on Massa. And that is just not the way he should drive in my opinion. He should just focus on finishing (hurray he did that for once). And then points will come. Reverse psychology is maybe not the answer here. Williams keep on telling him he does well but at the same time will most likely shake their heads. I think Lance needs a thorough kick in the cojones to wake him up. No matter if that move upsets daddy Stroll. But the kid needs to land with both feet on the ground before we can expect results.




https://i.ibb.co/BsYLL8h/1992-Formula1-Williams-FW14-B-001-1440-01.jpg

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Mehryar 30 April, 2017 21:56
On Massa, your point of view is completely imaginations Crusty imho.

No, he's not in a better position than in 2016.A year before, he had possibility to go to other teams, now he's again on a 1year deal.Stroll looks to be here with all the money his dad is spending and with Paddy onboard, our team looks to be a more desirable option for other young guns.his chances to stay beyond this year is as fragile as later part of 2016.and again No, consistancy was not his problem in 2016.his speed was the problem.He's never been a up and down performer, some races when he was doing bad, he was doing it consistently and when he was having a good race, he was doing well consistently...there's no evidence other than to check where he finished last year.I can't believe you go for Lowe's output from sessions.you really expect him to anything else of our drivers?!

Stroll, atm is going down the path Palmer went last season.He's slow, he makes stupid mistakes and let's again point to the fact he is slow! Our car was way way way faster than STR all through the weekend, if he's not able to close the gap half a second per lap to Sainz and with more fresh tyres, there's something really wrong with his pace.and again No, 1lap performace in qualifying is sometimes as important as race pace.we saw zero overtakings this race, absolutely nothing, so to qualify where the car belongs could do 50% of the job easily.



http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1095/mehryarsigyo7.gif

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
crusty_bread 01 May, 2017 14:46
AJ, I'm not quite getting your point regarding the tighter competition in 2017 compared to 2000. You give an example of how the cars are more competitive now, but the point I made was regarding the large performance difference between Jenson Button- a WDC and a top level driver- and his team mate Ralf Schumacher who was driving equal machinery during Jenson's early races. In fact, to qualify 18th in the 3rd fastest car in San Marino in a field more spread out performance wise actually emphasises my point- that rookies can be a major liability, and should only be taken on if you have a degree of tolerance.

Different people need managing differently. Massa for example has been managed perfectly this year. As far as he's concerned, he isn't racing for his seat. He has been asked back as a favour, and everyone's very grateful. This year is a bit of fun- more of a hobby than a job, and he has relaxed and put in some top level professional drives as a result because his mind is in the right place. He's revelling in his talents again and enjoying his racing. He is doing something that is earning him status and respect.

I'm glad you feel a whole season is an appropriate length of time to give Stroll time to develop. Williams have a lot of experience with rookies and I'm sure they know when they need to take the pressure off, and when they need to put the pressure on. Stroll was utterly broken by Q1 in Melbourne, trailing around miles off the curb after making too many mistakes during testing and on into FP3. However, He isn't making the same mistakes repeatedly, and you can't stamp your feet and expect him to get quicker as a result. He's clearly a competitive soul, aware of his shortcomings and trying to learn as fast as he can. Sure, he was guilty of overdriving slightly in Q2 and lap one in Russia, and maybe that needs pointing out to him, but his impatience to get up to speed is surely a good trait, and you only learn from your mistakes, which is why I don't subcribe to the view that you should intimidate rookies into driving "safe" all season and cruise and collect some way behind your team leader because all that does is inhibit development and push issues back, only to resurface at a later point. How will he learn how best to push, or race rivals in an F1 car, if he's not allowed to do it? The stakes are low- P4 / P5 in the constructors, no wins or podiums possible. For Williams, what matters most is that they have a well developed driver if they do end up with a competitive car, and loyal to them in return for Williams' show of faith and patience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2017 14:49 by crusty_bread.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
crusty_bread 01 May, 2017 14:46
Mehryar, It's been made very clear that Massa has been called back to help Stroll, and to help Williams with development for one season only. That is a very different mentality to 2016 because regardless of how he does, his future is certain and the manner of his exit is certain- he will leave with dignity having only come out of retirement as a favour.

When Massa was on form, he was consistently getting the Williams into the top 6/8. When he was off-form, he was qualifying 16th, 12th, 8th, 17th etc. That range of results, usually surprisingly lower than Williams' estimated potential, is what I'm referring to. Nothing either driver has managed suggests that Massa could have done any better in Russia than he did. He didn't throw in a bad opening lap, or tail off inexplicably at the end of a stint, or get pushed around and trapped behind someone. He just banged in consistent laps and maximised his potential. That is not a driver off-form.

I mentioned Lowe because if you don't think your driver is doing well or putting in consistent laps, you wouldn't mention it would you? Are you saying Lowe just plucked this comment from thin air, completely irrespective of the truth? Come on now. There's cynicism and then there's denial. He could have quite easily trotted out some vague lines about a good day, some good times, need to focus on data etc. Instead, he chose to single out Massa's stints and consistency of Massa's stints on all tyres and all fuel loads. It's hard to lie about that, particularly as all lap times are available to all and they bear out what he is saying.

You say Stroll is slow, yet I have shown that he is not. He made a mistake in qualifying to fail to make Q3, and it is clearly his weakest area, learning how to manage the softest tyre over one lap on low fuel, but that is only one aspect and one lap. To be consistently 1 tenth faster than his team leader who was also lapping consistently in the race is clear proof that he is not slow and that the guy has speed. He just needs to work on delivering this speed consistently, but as I have admitted, he is very young, very raw, with very limited racing experience, and therefore, this is both to be expected, and unlikely to last for too long. Palmer is a completely different case because he was in the lower formula for years and therefore, not on a very steep learning curve and unlikely to improve very much or very quickly. His stupid mistakes are getting worse and are based on the fact that Hulkenberg is wiping the floor with him. Like Massa last season vs Bottas, he knows he is being measured up for the noose, and he simply isn't in a mental place to take on and beat Nico, even if he could. His F1 career is in its death-throes, like Massa's was in 2016 before he returned from the dead in a different mental state.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2017 14:53 by crusty_bread.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Mehryar 01 May, 2017 18:17
Come on Crusty! You get my point or my english is so bad?!
I am with you about Massa's consistency.he's been always like that through a season.you say he is fullfitting "his" potential.I do agree with you.but does he take it to the full potential of the "car" ?! I have every reason to not believe it.He's never been able to beat his team mates on long runs, on some occasions he takes the car to the higher level or match them but most of the time he fails to do so.whether he's MS or kimi or Alonso or Bottas, on long runs he fails to perform at the top level of what the car offers.it's nothing to do with consistency.he is mostly consistent, 10% of times he is consistent at performing at top level and 90% of times he's consistent at performing lower.his performance curve is stable, but most of the time the bar is way lower than where it should be.
So I look at history, I look at where he finished to have a base other than to imagine what is his mentality.I can't believe you say he's taking all pace available when he's not challenged, not pushed.no one is there to push him for those extra 2-3 tenths.so I do believe if we had a Lewis, Bottas, Max, Vettel or Fernando in that car, it was running much much closer to Max and it was enough to cover the extra pitstop he did and save 4-6 points.

On Stroll.ok let's imagine Massa is the one from 2008, and let's even go one step ahead of your comparsion, not 10laps, for 90% he matched Fellipe...but he made 2 mistakes on 2laps.one in quali and one on opening lap.they were enough to throw away 6 points.why I should not compare him with Ocon? Our car is better than them, his experience is 2-3 races less than him if you forget is mega tests in 2014 car.but nothing of the two are comparable ATM.

I belive you, not only on this subject, but for most of the times get so lost in details, explore through reasons and finding small things that you forget the big and obvious results! Results are there, he is beaten by Fellipe in quali 4-0.the margin? It's bigger now than the first race.
Race days, he scored in a car capable of atleast 18points so far.the gaps?

I don't enjoy bashing anything related to Williams, but I have seen so many mediocre drivers come to us before that I won't do the same mistake of hopeful thinking before I see some clear results...or atleast improvements! If he starts 6tenths off on a new and street circuit and is 1second behind on 4th race on a permanent race track, it's not a good sign to me.

His excuses are somehow useless too.yes he didn't have GP2 experience but the milage he did in an f1 car in his prepration sessions, was not anything less and if you want a closer thing to 2017 cars, for sure a 2014 f1 car is more similar than a 2016 gp2 car.everybody is learning new tyres, again for a rookie a 2014 pirelli f1 compound is closer than 2016 gp2 tyre behaviours.not to mention how much he could learn about fuel loads, starts, systems, setups with that car compared to a gp2 car.



http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1095/mehryarsigyo7.gif

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
crusty_bread 01 May, 2017 20:21
We obviously have very differing views on Massa. I'm reminded on the period between mid 2014 to mid-early 2016, and I would estimate that Felipe was having mostly clean races, and that he would finish those clean races either ahead of Bottas, or behind, but normally there was little to choose between them, finishing within 10-15 seconds of one another. though Bottas would generally find himself marginally ahead slightly more often, and Massa would throw in a dodgy race or three which would be what split the difference in the drivers championship. But those bad races would stand out for Felipe relative to the competition and be easily identifiable.

Bottas just won the Russian GP and left Hamilton for dead, and got pole in Bahrain, and this was a guy Massa was nip and tuck with, and not for only 10% of the races, but more like 80%. If you don;t believe me, check the points standings. So I conclude from this that unless he has a clearly bad weekend, Massa is probably only giving away a maximum of 10-15 seconds across a whole race to the very best driver on the best form on that day. And whose to say he isn't the best driver on form that day, as he has proven capable, repeatedly of beating Bottas cleanly on merit in the past?

I generally start off with a gut feeling, and then fill it out with reasoning. My view is that Stroll is costing Williams points; check my first post- I admit everything you have said, however, I am adding another layer of analysis to it by pointing out that he has potential, and I know Williams need his money to achieve real success. I know from experience that rookies can struggle, and I was prepared, coming into this season for Stroll to cost the team points as he learns. Yes- he is struggling, but I find it pointless beating him up about it in just the same way as it is pointless screaming at a trainee or an apprentice for not automatically being as competent as yourself. Ocon is doing a better job in general, though Stroll would probably have beaten him in Bahrain but for being wiped out by Sainz, and Ocon hasn't suffered any brake failures either, so there are circumstances we are overlooking to come up with an oversimplified and therefore, slightly harsh verdict. Ocon is doing a better job in an inferior car, however, he is 2 years older and had 2 years more racing experience. Stroll may have driven an F1 car last season, but it was not under these regs nor at a competitive level and this is where his mistakes are coming in. Wurz was a test driver for years, but he got into a groove which was clearly too slow, and then struggled to step it up when he got the Williams drive. The last 2-5 tenths right on the edge is where a top driver in form makes the difference, when he has to perform right there, right then, under massive pressure and with experienced drivers all around at the top of their game making you look bad before you've even had a chance to get into your stride.

You say I get bogged down by detail, but you then pick a really silly example as one to measure his performance and progress and get concerned over. Did you watch qualifying or not? One second slower than Massa- yeah- on one lap! And its not even 1 second FFS, it's 0.9- on a lap he blatantly made an error on, running over a curb hard, getting out of the throttle, correcting, and blowing his best lap. He was faster in both the first two sectors, then that. To get all concerned by measuring his speed based on that error affected lap and ignore a whole race of performance is just crazy. Don't dwell on the time delta- after that mistake it could have been 1.5, or 2.0 seconds. Would that make him seem less talented to you? Instead, I suggest focussing more on his need to eliminate errors in qualifying.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2017 20:29 by crusty_bread.

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Mehryar 01 May, 2017 20:46
On Massa, as much as I check the results, he's beaten by Bottas 3 seasons in a row.both in qualifying and races.about up and down performance, he was not match for Bottas as far as I can recall.

About compare to Ocon.2 years less experience, well, I don't change the stats, all I say is if he feels he is 2 year too young or has 2 years of experience missing in motorsport, why 4th best team on the grid should feel the gap for him? it's down to him to whether get his act together sooner or just doesn't compete.

And the last part of your part is a disaster Crusty, again you are going into details and details and details...What's the use of experience? to make less mistakes.he has more experience here than China, right? why the gap is bigger? cause he made couple of mistakes, so where's the improvement?! you just pick a bit of this, a bit of that and try to gather it for a good result, but it doesn't work.there's a limited time available in Q2, limited number of laps are given to each driver to do what they can do.if he's fast, he should show it, more weekends in car should prevent him for less mistakes and thus a closer gap, for now, it's not happening.maybe his full potential is as fast as Lewis, ok, but if he can't show it, FIA doesn't change rules to give him extra 30 mins to get his act together to put in a lap he likes.he must perform within the rules with all the pressure.

Still I love to see him cut the gap to 2-3 tenths to Massa which must be realistic considering how much he knows Barcelona track.he has driven there in lower formulas, and around 200 laps in testing.maybe more.he has a race finish already and this should help is confidence.everything is set for a proper Qualifying and points scoring result in 2 weeks, believe me if he does it that way, I will be the happiest here cause unlike alot of posters here, I do believe he's here to stay for a couple of years so he better perform.



http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1095/mehryarsigyo7.gif

Re: The 'How's It Going Then, Lance'? Thread
Ozzy Osbone 02 May, 2017 10:16
I think the simple fact is that these cars are much harder to drive than the previous batch and this is showing in the rookies. Look at Palmer. I know he is not rated but he did win GP2, albeit against a poor field. But it seems the margin between staying on the track and rotating the car is much slimmer. That adds pressure once you've made a few errors and it grows exponentially. Even GIO who I rate very highly went from hero to zero pretty quickly, trashing 2 cars in the same corner.

Without the unfortunate spin in China, which to be fair was Lance getting on the kerb to avoid contact, he would have probably picked up some points. His race after that was very decent. So I'm not concerned. Quali is a thing he will sort and once he can get into Q3 as often as Massa, he'll have some better races.

I'm not concerned at all. These cars are beasts and he's come from F3. He's shown signs of promise and some mistakes. As the old saying goes, the man who has never made a mistake has never made anything. Those who sit on the sidelines and throw stones at triers are beyond contempt.

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