Williams Martini Racing have today announced the appointment of Dave Redding to the position of Team Manager. Dave will be responsible for the overall management of the operational and sporting aspects of the Williams racing team.
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I'm sorry but the bar of expectation on Lance Stroll's performance is ridiculously low.
Pundits and media types (e.g. ted kravitz) are routinely congratulating him on the most modest achievement, like qualifying 10th.
let's be clear: we can all agree, I'm sure that Felipe Massa is passed his best; whether his best was ever absolutely top tier is a separate debate but, whilst he's still capable of providing a good benchmark, any young driver who has any hope of being anywhere near a race winner should immediately be on his pace and soon be ahead of him. The baseline of the car is clearly the 4th best in the field and for Stroll to be any lower than 8th on the grid is not good - let alone what he actually ends up doing.
I'm not saying the team should do anything else but support him now they have him, and i also understand the economics of why they did, but for external people to set such low expectations is a bit ridiculous. I wonder also whether the budget he brings to the team is cancelled out if they finish behind FI/Renault/TR/Haas (or perhaps all 4!)
FP1
Weather: Warm and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 19-22C / 34-37C
F Massa, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:37.900 (8th)
L Stroll, FW40-02, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:37.944 (9th)
Quickest time: K. Raikkonen (1:36.074)
FP2
Weather: Warm and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 21-23C / 37-40C
F Massa, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:36.261 (7th)
L Stroll, FW40-02, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:37.747 (19th)
Quickest time: S. Vettel 1:34.120
Paddy Lowe: It’s been a sunny Friday at the Sochi Autodrom and a good day on both sides of the garage as we had no problems on either car and completed our planned programmes. Felipe ran a more conventional programme, using all three tyre compounds on both high and low fuel, as well as conducting some aerodynamic experiments. For Lance, the focus was on learning the circuit as this is a track he hasn’t driven before, and he made good progress through the day. We chose to run two sets of super soft tyres with him in FP2, giving him a more consistent tyre with one less variable. We have lots of interesting data in terms of tyre performance and endurance. There is still a lot of work to do tonight. We look forward to competing strongly tomorrow.
Felipe Massa: It was a good day for us. The car felt good on track, in the morning and the afternoon, on short runs and long runs, on old tyres and new tyres. So I would say I am quite happy with the balance and the way the tyres are working, and the degradation is very low, much lower than other tracks and was quite good for our long run. I was happy with the day. I really hope we can have a strong weekend, but we will see.
Lance Stroll: It is a bit strange here as it is not one timed lap and then the tyre goes away, it builds up a lot. So we need to figure out how to deliver the lap time when the tyre is at its best. There is still improvement to come, and that is generally from my side, as it is my first time here and I am just getting the car set up the way I want. And I didn't use the ultra softs as I am saving them for tomorrow. That will give me a much better feeling and I will try to get in some good runs. We have not decided our strategy for the race yet, but it is low grip here and the degradation doesn't look high, so we will have to see what approach is best.
