so, this Will Stevens fellow....
Discussion
His greatest acheivement is arguably 4th in F3.5 a couple of years ago, beaten by Magnussen, Vandoorne, Da Costa. He failed to win a race but looking at the results he took podiums where they were there to be had and he did so whilst driving for a team which'd eventually finish 6th in the constructors and comprehensively thrashing his team mate.
It's a complicated sport but I'd say the above qualifies him as 'worthy', not that he or anybody else should value my opinion.
It's a complicated sport but I'd say the above qualifies him as 'worthy', not that he or anybody else should value my opinion.
I think he's been quite shrewd really.
The other 'higher profile' drivers from GP2/3 etc are all behind the scenes with the big boys. Those drivers were (perhaps understandably) dismissive of a drive with new marussia and went for the glory shot - where they might end up getting jumped over by others coming throught the same route they did eg another verstappen.
Will on the other hand has gone to a team which he knew had a weak car, but he's driving in every race, getting profile and doing himself no harm at all.
As with another of the quotes on here, he'll be catching the eye of the other mid-table teams on the back of his performances.
Good for him, i hope he picks up a point or two this season.
The other 'higher profile' drivers from GP2/3 etc are all behind the scenes with the big boys. Those drivers were (perhaps understandably) dismissive of a drive with new marussia and went for the glory shot - where they might end up getting jumped over by others coming throught the same route they did eg another verstappen.
Will on the other hand has gone to a team which he knew had a weak car, but he's driving in every race, getting profile and doing himself no harm at all.
As with another of the quotes on here, he'll be catching the eye of the other mid-table teams on the back of his performances.
Good for him, i hope he picks up a point or two this season.
What highly regarded team mate does he have? Mehri doesn't seem to be exactly famed for his talent. Will Stevens may well be a good driver, until he's in an actual F1 car not just a lookalike with a bit of go we won't really know his potential. If he'd turned up as team mate to Bianchi this year and was a second a lap faster than him then I think it'd be fair to say he was the real deal.
For now I don't think any real decision can be made on how well he'll do. He might only be in the Manor for a season and then bugger off to the WEC or DTM, who knows?
For now I don't think any real decision can be made on how well he'll do. He might only be in the Manor for a season and then bugger off to the WEC or DTM, who knows?
He seems to have done quite well, although the quality of Merhi is open to interpretation.
However, he hasn't binned it or made any major mistakes. It's just whether he is doing enough to alert other teams.
The sad fact is that even a move up to a midfield team such as Lotus or Sauber now requires funding aswell, therefore he won't be promoted up there without more money.
One wonders where the cash for his Manor drive has come from. There's no sponsors on the car, or him, yet he also managed to pull together £250k for Abu Dhabi alone at the end of last season in a Caterham?
Not suggesting he's part of anything dodgy, just curious as to the identity of his backer(s)
However, he hasn't binned it or made any major mistakes. It's just whether he is doing enough to alert other teams.
The sad fact is that even a move up to a midfield team such as Lotus or Sauber now requires funding aswell, therefore he won't be promoted up there without more money.
One wonders where the cash for his Manor drive has come from. There's no sponsors on the car, or him, yet he also managed to pull together £250k for Abu Dhabi alone at the end of last season in a Caterham?
Not suggesting he's part of anything dodgy, just curious as to the identity of his backer(s)
shalon said:
I don't know how similar the cars are to last year but he's slower than bianchi was last year in the same car might be conditions etc but is outperforming mehri at every opertunity
Not really fair to compare the cars or even the team, given the upheaval.Early days still but he's looking pretty good, given I'd heard too mehri was the one to watch and given the complete absence of fuss being made about will by our media - he's still, lettuce not forget, a new brit in F1 - it was more a case of wondering just how terrible was he going to be...
hairyben said:
shalon said:
I don't know how similar the cars are to last year but he's slower than bianchi was last year in the same car might be conditions etc but is outperforming mehri at every opertunity
Not really fair to compare the cars or even the team, given the upheaval.Early days still but he's looking pretty good, given I'd heard too mehri was the one to watch and given the complete absence of fuss being made about will by our media - he's still, lettuce not forget, a new brit in F1 - it was more a case of wondering just how terrible was he going to be...
The other problem is no Caterham so no battle of the tail-enders so not only weak team mate but also no gauge in comparison to local competition because they are so far behind. A lot has been mentioned about Max Chilton's finishing record but Bianchi is the quicker driver and when both Marussias finished Bianchi could put a Caterham as the meat in the sandwich.
thegreenhell said:
In a recent blog post of his, Joe Saward wondered whether there was a connection between Bernie's open dislike of the Manor team and their almost complete invisibility on the TV feed, which is controlled by Bernie's FOM company.
That really is the way forward to encourage teams to join F1. Ignore them. Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff