Kubica Expects Return?

Hard to tell how good hus pace was as no one outside of Williams knows what car setup/fuel etc he had.

Judging by the times alone, you'd say he was probably about the same as Massa, which on any given weekend could be faster or slower than stroll.

It seems to be that he is probably no worse than the other driver options available to them, but would carry more risk because the long term affect on his injuries are still a but of an unknown and he has been out of the sport a long time.

I can see Kvyat getting the nod.

 

One of the hurdles is getting a super licence. Which I believe he has obtained. Evidence being he had a red light on the back of his car coming out of the pits in the last test where as other non licence drivers have a green light.

 

He hasn’t got it.

The delta analysis on his times put him well off Massa’s time. He did a 3 lap run at the end of the day (to replicate quali, track temp, air temp) on the new Hyper soft and was 9/10ths slower. The Russian did a 5 lap run on the soft tyre at lunch time in hotter less representative conditions and was only 0.5 sec slower, compound and time of day adjustments puts that on a par with Massa.

He also only matched Stroll who was over a second slower than Massa.

 

That was my take on it too, Willams were supposed to be announcing him after the test, but want another look. That says to me he was less than convincing, and it's now a money/PR decision. I think there's too much 'IT' work for his one hand.

 

Christ , if it's still a money decision , they are well and truly screwed , PR I get . I agree though , if they thought he had it , they would surely have announced it by now ?

 

Well he says he is capable, but even he doesn't sound that sure to me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42220435

 

As much as we'd love to see him back, F1 isn't about fairy tale stories. Wehrlein deserves the seat.

 

Wehrlein does deserve the seat, but he's got the same problem as Kvyat & Sirtokin, too young for Martini advertising, I'm also not sure how much £££ he brings to the team now that Mercedes/Wolff don't seem so keen to back him.

 

He has hardly blown Ericcson's socks off this year and I gather the feedback from Sauber on him is not entirely positive, so you wonder whether Mercedes have gone a bit cold on him now.

So Williams, don't take on Kubica, who else is over 25 and available who an do a decent job? They've put their eggs into the Kubica basket and may now have to sort out a Plan B pretty quickly, or are they going to further delay until the first tests of 2018 and re-evaluate again?

 

Maybe it isnt because of talent why Williams are not convinced....

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/12/08/sirotkin-prefere-a-kubica
May need to speak french... But Rumple Stilt-skin has $15million in guaranteed backing

 

But he's only 22 . Will that impact on Martinis backing ?

The team are in the **** as far as I am concerned , Currently .

 

I think it's just column inches, it doesn't really say a lot other than Stiltskin is going to Williams in some capacity. Kubica is the probably choice with Stiltskin as the 3rd driver/reserve who'll take over if Williams aren't convinced by Kubica.

 

I dont think it was a hard stone clause to be over 25. just a preference so they could market a driver in advertising.

 

Oh yes , I think Big Ern said that , but I am still worried .

 

I think its a toss up between Williams spending more to build a better car or having a decent driver to push the car. Stroll has shown them that he can pick up good points so they could have 2 pay drivers picking up points in a good car. but their main rival Force India are spending less but have better drivers.

 

They need a driver who can develop with experience, preferably in this era.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/133521/sirotkin-favourite-to-get-2018-williams-drive

Autosport now reporting the same thing. Not only do they prefer Sirotkin to Kubica, but Kvyat is the second choice. Kubica and Di Resta are out of contention entirely.

It was a nice dream, but sadly he just wasn't up to it anymore.

On a side note it think this is the worst Williams line up of all time. I'd rather have their 2012 lineup.

 

This could be the worst line up they have ever had , at a time they least need it . I’m not hopefull for 2018 , but we will see .

Paddy Lowe to the rescue ?

 

I fear for Williams I really do, they effectively folded when they let Bottas go for what ended up to be Stroll. Not that Stroll hasn't done OK in the end and showed glimpses of performance, but if you do a race by race analysis he was comfortably outperformed by Massa when all said and done. That in itself isn't the be all and end all, but Massa was a returning retired driver, and he was retired for a reason. They needed a JB type driver in that car last year and this year to develop the car and Stroll before handing over.

A young rookie driver needs a wise head in the other car, Lewis had Alonso, Alonso had Fisi (?), Vettel had Webber etc. Not only could this be a disaster for Williams but it could also be a disaster for the driver in the long run.

 

Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes seem to hold the young talent cards. They could take Wehrlein with a mercedes deal which wouldnt be that bad. but maybe they should work on their own development driver scheme because they are currently lost