Lance Stroll, Williams, Sochi Autodrom, 2018

Stroll: We can only go up after this year

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In the round-up: Lance Stroll says things can only improve in 2019 after a poor second season at Williams.

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What they say

Stroll, who will test for Force India this week, said he hadn’t enjoyed his 2018 campaign:

I can’t say I’ve enjoyed my time with the team this year. But I did last year.

I’m just going to enjoy the off-season a bit now and get back to work and start chipping away at it.

We were by far the worst car this year so I think you can only go up from where Williams were this year.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Losing DRS didn’t spoil the racing in F2 yesterday:

GP2/F2 never needed DRS (Or the high-deg tyres) in the first place as the racing in this series was always really good without needing gimmicks.

Same with GP3 to be honest as the races earlier in the year when they had to disable DRS (Paul Ricard for example) showed.
@Stefmeister

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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25 comments on “Stroll: We can only go up after this year”

  1. ‘tonite’ always luv de lengs pepul go to save one karaktr.

    1. I tink is US Engls.

    2. I always like the lengths you guys go to keep all the silent letters ;)

      1. @rethla – it makes for interesting landmines in spelling bees.

  2. LOL Lewis got a full size tyre as an award for most pole positions?? I thought the little tyres they gave in each race were already useless… Lewis already got 11 of those this year… I know they are a tyre company, but maybe a random item from their merchandise collection would’ve been more appropiate!

    1. I just spat my tea out..
      There you go Lewis, here’s a massive tyre! Well done 😂😂😂

    2. As much as I struggle to like Lewis at times, you’ve got appreciate his honesty there. Most would just smile and get it over with, of course he doesn’t want a massive tyre, plenty of people would though, give it to them. What on earth Pirelli were thinking.

  3. COTD: Those series are vastly different from F1… single chassis, single engine, extremely limited aero.

    1. @mtlracer I know, The comment was made in the F2 article yesterday so wasn’t supposed to be related to F1.

  4. Williams can only go up from where they are?
    Force India has traded Ocon (hare) for Stroll (tortoise), so may still be up there at the sharp end.

    1. I think you can only go up from where Williams were this year

      I wouldn’t be surprised if Stroll were talking about himself going up, and not the team.

      1. @phylyp That is the same thing.

        1. @rethla – LOL, nice one!

  5. What point is COTD trying to make?

    1. The sort of point that is designed to appeal to figures such as Keith (you know, feeding into the constant “DRS is the work of the devil and we hate it because etc.”) and to flatter his biases and those of the audience that he feeds.

      1. Isn’t that fun when you answer in the same tone that you accuse him off?

        If you don’t agree with the COTD at least give a reasonable comment as to why DRS and design to degrade tyres are good for the lower categories.

        1. How apt… ;)

    2. It was a comment I made as a reply to someone in the article discussing the F2 race yesterday.

  6. Re: COTD I beg to differ @stefmeister. The racing in the F2 race yesterday was made worse by a huge amount when the DRS failed. it was turned into an F1 style rubbish procession. The commentators mentioned it explicitly, it was noticed by me and countless others on social media. Wonder how you’d missed it. But anyway don’t let facts disturb your agenda…

    1. @montreal95 I disagree, I thought it was better because we actually got to see some good fighting with drivers able to defend & those trying to overtake having to actually fight & work at trying to pull off an overtake & this helped create far better than what was seen when DRS was active & the passing was far too easy & dull to watch been done half way down the straight.

      Nobody looks back at GP2/F2 before DRS & says the racing was dull because it never was. That series consistently put on some of the best racing around & there was never any need at all for them to introduce DRS or High-deg tyres which is why it was so disappointing when they did.

      I have not & never will be a fan of DRS in F1 as I don’t like the sort of racing it produces…. But I get why it’s there. In the junior categories like GP2/F2 & GP3 however I simply don’t because there spec series with far less aero which never needed it to begin with. And even if it was felt the racing did need improving as a spec series it’s far easier to alter the cars to create better racing without the need for gimmicks.

  7. Well I fail to see how you could go downhill from where you are Lance.
    I think your problem now is making sure you don’t get made to look foolish in your new car next season. I wouldn’t relax over the end of season break if I were you, I would get in as much racing practice as possible. Any kind of racing.

    Good to see Niki recovering. One of the few drivers who genuinely loves the sport in my opinion.

  8. ”you can only go up from where Williams were this year.” – Well, you won’t be needing to worry about that anymore as you’re going to be in a better car next season anyway.

    Regarding the COTD: The F2 and GP3 cars are quite a bit different than F1 when it comes to following another car as @mtlracer points out above.

  9. I think people forget how young Stroll still is. Next year will be his 3rd year in F1 and he’ll STILL be the 2nd youngest driver on the grid (20) with only Norris (19) younger than him. That’s why I haven’t completely given up on his time in F1 (although he has much to prove). Not that I’m ever expecting him to be a serious top-end driver, but at least now being in a competitive car and being established in the paddock he should give a representative account of his ability. Whether that ends up being a good account or a bad one is up to him. I also think the ‘Daddy factor’ makes people resentful of him too. He can hardly help the fact his old man has a few quid in the bank. It’s fair to say next season is a massive one for him because the excuses and the extenuating circumstances are now all gone.

    1. The way he looks so miserable when he’s being so self-righteous doesn’t help people to find him endearing either… ;-)

  10. Yes £an¢€ $tro££ you’re right, you can only go up from here now that Daddy has bought you a team that’s already up, and next he’s going to buy you a Mercedes…team. ;)

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