"Slap in the face" might have been a bit over-done, but I what I mean was this generally does not reflect well on AM. They sold him a project, and at the end of the day, he no longer believed in it. Or at least, to the extent that he did when he started. His reasons for leaving are both sound and understandable. I never really saw Seb have any connection to Stroll Jr except for the color of their cars. Seb is articulate, charismatic, detail-oriented, and socially outspoken. LS18 is none of those, at least publicly.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑29 Jul 2022, 16:59I'm sure that if AM were actually heading in the right direction, there'd be more motivation for Seb to stay. Unlike the young guns, Seb has a young family and being away from them will be hard and getting harder as time goes on. Without positive outcomes at the races as compensation, there's no motivation to look in his kids' eyes and say "bye" every other week.continuum16 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2022, 16:50The more I look at it, the more this just looks like a slap in the face to AM. [...]
Hiring a rookie driver means you have wasted your time with a world champion in the seat for two years, after you fired a guy who was no worse, knew the team, and brought you sponsorship!
As for a slap in the face, I think that's over-dramatising it. If the team can't get its act together and produce a decent car, no driver with Seb's record is going to hang around for ever. He's out of contract at the end of the year and maybe when he started negotiations the team and he were too far apart to be able to agree another deal. Only the team and Seb know the answer to that.
I wonder if Stroll Jnr's move on Seb at the end of the French GP made him think "sod this", especially if he mentioned it to the team and was met with silence (no idea about that, of course).
I wouldn't be surprised if the France incident unfolded as you speculated.
I wonder if the team will begin to lose sponsors as the effects of their poor performance and loss of star driver will become clear. They are on the verge of starting a vicious cycle like McLaren was in for years, where the disconnect between the top and bottom of the team becomes ever more apparent. But McLaren at least had history on its side. AM has the Strolls.
I don't know who they can get to replace him. I don't think it would be wise for MSC to leave the Ferrari family, but who knows, maybe he will follow his uncle Ralf instead. AM is losing leverage in contract negotiations it seems. Alonso would be the only one who could fit their desire, but I doubt the feeling is mutual. Although, when has Fernando ever been known to make well-timed contract decisions? Maybe he will go there. And then Alpine will conveniently win the WDC in two years lol.
