2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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LookBackTime
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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timbo wrote:Worrying thing is that Lance got a lot of practice last year reportedly with private sessions on an older Williams car. So it's not like he never driven F1 car before. Still I think we can cut him some slack as the car changed dramatically.
Maybe the car itself is unbalanced so far.
Well you get some answers from Lewis Hamilton itself.

"
Three-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he feels for Lance Stroll after the Williams rookie's crash-strewn start to testing at Barcelona.

Stroll went off twice on Wednesday and his second shunt brought Williams's testing to a premature end for the second day in a row.

Mercedes driver Hamilton said he sympathised with the reigning European Formula 3 champion because F1's introduction of "the fastest and most physical" cars for 2017 meant it was always likely to be a baptism of fire.

"I feel for him in the sense it's the toughest year to come in to Formula 1," Hamilton said.

"I know he's been travelling around the world testing with Williams, he's definitely had more preparation time than any other driver coming in would have had.

"It's to be expected, it's not an easy car to drive at all. It's so much faster through the corners.

"Precision is even more important than in the past - last year's car is easy compared to this year's car."

Stroll's Tuesday crash damaged the front wing of his FW40 and the team did not have the parts available to allow him to run again that day, limiting his running to 12 laps.

He added 98 laps to that tally on Wednesday but spun into the gravel just as the morning session came to an end, then in the afternoon lost the rear of the car exiting Turn 5 and crashed into the barrier, damaging the front of the car.

While the errors are compromising Stroll's preparation Hamilton believes the 18-year-old is better off getting the mistakes out of the way now.

"These are only the first stages," said Hamilton.

"You can't just jump in and drive from no experience at all to be consistent and not spin, and that's to be expected.

"It's actually good for him to go through this now rather than the first race."



"

LookBackTime
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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BARCELONA TEST ONE – DAY THREE

01 MAR 2017


Driver: Lance Stroll
Chassis / Engine: FW40-01 / Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 20ºC / 28ºC

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We’ve had a good day, learning about the car while also doing aerodynamic and mechanical testing. We’re still in the early stages, but things are looking promising and it’s been a good boost for the team to get some significant mileage under the belt. Unfortunately, Lance was an innocent victim today when he was caught out by cold tyres at the end of the session. The incident caused some damage and as a result we missed the final hour of running. The tyres being a little bit snappy has been something that both Felipe and Lance have commented on so I guess we’re all just acclimatising to them. We will thoroughly investigate how we as a team can help the drivers in this situation. Lance, however, has acclimatised well during his first day. It’s his first full day of F1 testing with the FW40 and we are comfortable with the progress he is making.

Lance Stroll: It was a good day. We covered nearly a 100 laps and I was getting used to the car producing good short and long runs. Unfortunately, we had the incident at the end which prematurely stopped our running. It was still a good day - the team is happy and I am happy with the way it went with the car, and everybody is still positive. It was unfortunate what happened at the end but things like that happen and you have just got to move forward and make the best of it.

Sevach
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... sh-878783/

Williams is uncertain for tommorow.

Sevach
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... st-878875/

Williams will not be running on the final day of the first test.

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Schuttelberg
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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proteus wrote:
For years, Williams have put some truly shocking names in their cockpits for commercial viability. Someone needs to explain to them the concept of drivers bringing commercial interest vs FOM prize money. I will go as far as to say that Sauber aside, who shouldn't be anywhere near the points, Williams have the weakest driver pairing.
Couldnt agree more. They literally kicked themself in the knees. Massa is experienced, but very pasive driver but still steady and delivering results. Stroll is a massive gamble and so far looking like he is not jet ready for the job. Maybe Di Resta would be a better driver for them, atleast for a year with Stroll driving in practices getting the mileage.
They're a team with so much prestige and history man! Some of my younger colleagues struggle to relate to the fact that at one point of time Williams was as good as Mercedes are today. I think even if they went for a Stroll, they could have lured a much more hungry driver than Massa. I for one feel driving for Ferrari, McLaren and Williams has a privilege attached to it. They are whatever one says a WCC team, but with every passing year, you feel more and more that the DNA within the team has changed.
"Sebastian there's very, you're a member of a very select few.. Stewart, Lauda, Piquet, Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Fangio.. VETTEL!"

Sevach
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They probably could've attracted someone else if they didn't have to do it in the last minute after everyone had signed for 2017.
When they did Massa was their best option all things considered, experience, continuity...

There are also rumours that "Daddy" demanded an experienced driver, getting nailed badly by an inexperienced guy like Ocon or Gasly for example might've damaged his son's stock.

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WaikeCU
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Sevach wrote:They probably could've attracted someone else if they didn't have to do it in the last minute after everyone had signed for 2017.
When they did Massa was their best option all things considered, experience, continuity...

There are also rumours that "Daddy" demanded an experienced driver, getting nailed badly by an inexperienced guy like Ocon or Gasly for example might've damaged his son's stock.
I think it's actually a mix of both sides really. Williams have become a team that also needs some funding from driver's side, hence bringing Maldonado and Stroll onboard. It's true they aren't the most talented drivers out there, but they have deep pockets. Then it's just hoping the pay driver does a solid job or does even more than that, like Maldonado has done.

LookBackTime
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In case any one is interested in money talk

According to BBC ( Andrew Benson) Daddy Stroll paid Williams Racing:

- 20 mil. pounds on 2016 - for testing around the glob, simulator, preparation of the kid ...
- at least 20 mil. pounds for 2017 season

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/39139492

foxmulder_ms
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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40million pound, for basically nothing. :(

BrunoH
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at least Massa is going to get FULL attention... put it this way.. its more 40 million in the development pipeline they got for Massa... hehehehehe

Sevach
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Suppousedly the team will have 2 chassis for next week, so Massa is gonna be "safe" to test.

LookBackTime
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Sevach wrote:Suppousedly the team will have 2 chassis for next week, so Massa is gonna be "safe" to test.
To be really, really safe: 3-4 chassis will cover 4 days of testing!

Sevach
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LookBackTime wrote:
Sevach wrote:Suppousedly the team will have 2 chassis for next week, so Massa is gonna be "safe" to test.
To be really, really safe: 3-4 chassis will cover 4 days of testing!
That should be enough... i think lol.

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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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LookBackTime
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