2018 Driver Speculation

[Penfold]

Sirotkin & Williams seems a done deal - and just a month ago I was sure they'd put talent ahead of money... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42579911

$irotkin and $troll, what a pairing.

[Chrill]

Kvyat confirmed as development driver for Ferrari:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/kvyat-joins-ferrari-development-driver-994378/

Which makes good sense too. He needs to regain his composure, because we know he can drive fast.

[Chrill]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/133914/sirotkin-announced-as-2018-williams-driver

Well shit. Case closed, Williams officially has the worst lineup of 2018.

[Chrill]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/42700482

However the Pole is official reserve driver for Williams, apparently. So there's that.

[Penfold]

Yeah, that cheers me no end.

You saying worst line-up of 2018 got me wondering when Williams last had such limited talent behind the wheel.  Scrolled up through this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_F1_Grand_Prix_results and got right to the top before the answer leapt out: 1977 with Patrick Neve as their sole driver. 

[Chrill]

Even 2012, with Maldonado/Senna, they had more talent. Maldonado won a race that year!!

[Penfold]

Exactly.  One fast but unpredictable peddler and one guy with a great surname - they haven't got either of those qualities this year!

[Penfold]

Sirotkin to bring long-term benefits to Williams: https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2018/01/17/why-williams-picked-sirotkin-instead-of-kubica-for-2018/

Basically what I suggested a few posts back: a bet that the extra cash will buy them enough performance to outweigh Sirotkin's lack of experience.

[Chrill]

Also, with Kubica as third/reserve/development/whatchamacallit driver, his experience will stay contribute to car development. That means Sirotkin/Stroll simply needs to haul the car around fast enough to score points.

[Penfold]

Plus Kubica is pencilled in for some practice sessions; basically use him to help set up the car for the young 'uns - Sirotkin already benefited from this in their audition tests.

[Chrill]

Sirotkin picks 35 as his permanent number.
https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/16671

[Chrill]

Your Leclerc reference is picking up speed:

https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2018/01/29/leclerc-nine-things-know-saubers-new-f1-driver/

[Penfold]

Trend setting right here on MF1.  Now if we can just get Monsieur 'It is I' to use it himself....

[Penfold]

Paddy Lowe insists (again) that Sirotkin was chosen purely on merit, that money played no part in the decision: https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/16/williams-chose-sirotkin-simply-on-merit-lowe/

So Sergey was the very best/most promising driver on the planet available to Williams and he just happened to bring an estimated $20 million of backing.  What a happy co-incidence.

[Chrill]

If we look at available drivers at that time, we find a rather short list of people with at least SOME F1 experience:

Daniil Kvyat
Jolyon Palmer
Felipe Nasr
Robert Kubica
Sergery Sirotkin
Pascal Wehrlein
Nico Rosberg (I mean, it's not realistic. Still)
Paul di Resta

Let's be honest, I don't think Sirotkin is the worst on this list. Others are affiliated with various teams or simply unwilling to join Williams. I'd say out of the drivers likely willing to race for Williams in 2018, Sirotkin is in my top 3 behind Kvyat and Wehrlein. Still, Wehrlein was supposedly too young and Kvyat does not come from a good season at Toro Rosso.

Palmer is simply not impressive enough, Nasr never was fast enough (even though he had ties to Williams), Kubica apparently wasn't the one they went for and we can only speculate why, and di Resta is too old and inexperienced and never did impress enough during his spell in F1.

I can't be too upset with Sirotkin, although keeping Stroll is arguably a stranger choice despite his P3 in Azerbaijan. No denying Stroll kept his cool when so many others (pretty much all of them) crashed.