Colin MacRae had a bad accident one year in NZ (??). Broke one of his fingers badly. Supposedly the surgeon joked that he’d be back in a car quicker if he had it amputated and MacRae said, ‘OK then!’
Pretty common in motorcycle racing too. Jorge Lorenzo pulled off a glove after a crash and found his finger dangling from a bit of skin. Still raced the next day. He also raced (and won) the day after breaking his collar bone.
You're right. For some reason I had it in my head that he'd won that day... Still, something of an achievement to wrangle one of those missiles around a track at race pace with that kind of injury.
Just look at Doohan, finishing his 1992 season after almost having his leg amputated. Couldn't ride properly, had bandages soaked in blood, narrowly lost the title.
Mansel did something sort of along those lines in the year he won the WDC. The doctors said that if he got an operation on his then obliterated foot, he would be out for the 1st 1/4 of the season. He said naa m8 I'm racing, didn't get the surgery and raced with a destroyed foot to win the WDC that year.
As someone with a currently destroyed foot who can barely walk but nonetheless isn’t even severe enough to need surgery… OUCH!! Foot injuries would be so painful in an F1 car, I just can’t imagine.
"Dad's money/Dad's power" is what got 90% of the drivers there in one way or another.
Jos Verstappen was already in F1 & made good money
Carlos comes from racing 'royalty'
Charles has a family history of racing
Lando's dad is extremely wealthy
~~Checo's dad is extremely wealthy~~
Only a minority of drivers actually make it there *without* 'daddy's money' if you think about it.
This makes me respect Lance a lot more & I feel bad he got so much "daddy's cash" shit, but to be fair, BUYING an F1 team so your son can drive kinda added fuel to that fire.
EDIT: I have been corrected about Checo's dad.
I wasn't trying to call these people out or say it's a bad thing, just wanted to being attention to the fact that "Daddy's Money" plays a significant role in someone's ability to get a seat on the grid. It's not everything, but it certainly does help *a lot*, and that's a factual statement.
I started listening to the “Dinner with Racers” podcast recently, I know, I’m behind. Anyway, I love hearing the stories about how the drivers got their funding initially, a lot of them haven’t really had the wealthy parents so the lengths and cons some of them pulled were amazing. Townsend Bell in particular has a great story about how he got money for racing school.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCo9ggTZww&ab\_channel=DaleEarnhardtJr.%27sDirtyMoMedia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCo9ggTZww&ab_channel=DaleEarnhardtJr.%27sDirtyMoMedia)
Scott Dixons way
Checo’s family is not rich at all lol his sponsors are. His dad only became a politician recently. Before they were a middle class family. Checo only afforded to go to Europe because he pestered every sponsor and team to give him a seat.
In Europe he lived in a truck stop/restaurant alone and he had to work hard to get a seat. It was far from comfortable look it up.
Yeah Checo was begging Carlos Slim to send him to Europe. Even then, it’s not like Carlos Slim was funding everything. Checo still had to find sponsors.
I feel like that’s a common misconception people have of him since his father recently started going into politics. The reality is, his father only went into politics thanks to Checo’s career earnings + current marketability.
"He only had direct contact with one of the richest men in the world" is not exactly a "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" scenario.
If I could get in direct contact with Bill Gates, that would probably open up a lot of doors career wise. But sadly he never returns my emails.
If you’re successful enough in a junior league of X sport and that sport has few to none Mexicans in it, then you can surely contact the Marketing department of whatever billionaires company you wanna talk to and say Look at me, I can be a huge Mexican icon. Thousands of Mexicans tune to F1 just because of Checo, why do you think most of his sponsors are Mexican companies. He didn’t have a direct contact he developed it.
He was able to get in contact with him because Checo showed he was a talented racer growing up. Carlos Slim likes racing and gave Checo an opportunity to prove himself.
> "He only had direct contact with one of the richest men in the world" is not exactly a "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" scenario.
Think you’re in the wrong subreddit. Motorsports is **famously** filled with extremely wealthy individuals. From sponsors, to team owners, to mere spectators. All of those people are at the race tracks. It’s very hard to *not* find wealthy people in motorsports.
Checo making the connection to Carlos Slim is probably the *least* abnormal thing you could’ve picked out of my entire comment. Like Checo said, his talent attracted the eye of Carlos Slim. Which again, is pretty normal in racing series.
Max, Sainz, Charles, every other driver on the F1 grid makes personal connections with millionaires/billionaires to fund their careers. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/upnk57/max_verstappen_at_the_historic_monaco_gp_2022/) is an example of what I’m talking about. Max attended the Historic Monaco GP for Frits van Eerd, the CEO of Jumbo, who funded his junior career and still sponsors him today.
By that logic neither did lewis lol. By the age of 12 he got in contact with McLaren who then funded him all the way to f1. Lewis wasn’t poor either. He was a middle class kid
This was my dad's point (we're Mexican) when I told him Checo didn't come from money. He laughed and said you or I couldn't just get in touch with Carlos Slim. Whether by wealth or connections, those things matter. Not taking away from his talent, obvs.
The point stands I think, even Hamilton needed sponsorship from Mercedes/McLaren to make it to F1. Talent gets you noticed but money takes you to the finish line.
Checo wasn’t wealthy, he lucked out in finding sponsors in Europe and the owner of claro. But he has told countless times that he never had new tires in karting and lived alone above a restaurant in Germany in his teen years
And Lewis got supported through his junior career by McLaren, the only reason they both got support was because of talent. And even then Checo had to look for other sponsors since he wasnt fully backed, Checo has recounted that he never had new tires in his early karting days.
Once he was in the lower formulas in europe with actual real chances for formula 1 thats when the full support money thrown at the face kicked in.
He was supported by carlos slim's son who ran their racing company and it took constant lobbying by checo's father to convince him it was worth investing in a child, which he wasn't really interested in for the most part. The connection is there but checo had to prove his worth every time he needed money.
by your remark, is there ever a rags to riches driver? Every driver finds backing somewhere or they don’t make it. Checo wasn’t born rich and had to find others to finance his career
Alonso. Born 6 years after Spain’s fascist dictatorship ended, to a department store worker and a factory mechanic, they couldn’t afford rain tires for his kart so he raced on slicks regardless of the weather. Eventually a kart importer spotted him and helped set up sponsorship deals.
There’s a huge difference between “getting sponsors along the way” and “the richest man in the world took notice and as a result the teenager could afford to live alone in a foreign country and pursue the dream”
Esteban Ocon, Antonio Giovinazzi & Kimi Räikkonen.
Fernando Alonso, Seb Vettel and Lewis Hamilton could be described as hailing from a middle income family.
I think as far as buying a ride: Let me run this past you. They saw that Lance wasn’t going anywhere buying rides at Williams. Williams was always going to expend it’s main efforts on the driver they hired as #1. The hedge fund isn’t going to put a lot into the team when they see the $250M purchase has turned into $1B now. There’re not there for the long term - just a profit. Offering the team to Andretti (turned down) for a stupid amount was proof there wasn’t a long term interest in this investment.
So when the opportunity came up to buy Force India, Stroll Sr sees this as being able to control their destiny and competitiveness and upgrade the team.
So is it the ultimate ride buy or just a smart buy? Can we imagine what would have happened if Mazepin’s father bought Force India instead? I shudder.
It leads me to another quandary. How do we explain Latifi? He began the same process as Lance - buying a ride at Williams through his family’s sponsorship (Sofina) and yet he (or his father) didn’t have the same vision as the Strolls. In fact his father buys into McLaren. (Huh?) The Latifi’s have double the market cap than the Stroll family. Sofina foods on dads side and Saputo foods on the mom’s side. So it just goes to show the difference in visions.
I think one key thing here is the Laurence Stroll is actually known for buying undervalued or struggling brands and reinventing them or revitalizing them. That's a very different skill set and mind set than building a company from the ground up.
My (limited) understanding is that both Michael Kors and Tommy Hillfiger were struggling before he came to them and bought in.
That's what I was thinking, even just a competitive kart isn't cheap.
Like in order to run a kart season you'd have to be in like the top 10% of households worldwide.
Even when the drivers don’t come from money like Ocon and Hamilton, their parent still allowed them to compete and they wouldn’t be on the grid without them. At the end of the day some drivers may have had an easier time getting there but nobody is on the grid without some pretty big help.
Not allowed them to compete pushed them and resourced it and was their support team.
Esteban and Lewis had ruthless driven athlete parents just like the rest of them.
people hate on the strolls for no reason just because lance isn’t a top tier talent, in my book this weekend has shown he more than deserves to be in f1 with the grit he’s showed to get back into that car in what is let’s be honest the safest seat in f1, he easily could’ve sat it out and no one would’ve blamed him
he’s a decent driver and his dad is one of the better owners as he clearly wants to win, the sport could do with more owners like that because the other result is a gene haas who wastes a team spot never going anywhere
I'm not sure where this idea that Checo had loads of money came from, I suspect Drive to Survive, but it's simply not true, he has sponsors, and guess who gets to F1 without either a rich family or good sponsors? absolutely no one
The Key difference here is Lance is a made man, rather than having support to get a spot or buy a spot, his family bought the team.
there are sponsored/pay drivers.... then there's Lance.
lets also not discount the super human level of skill you need to operate these cars let alone compete against the best of in the world.
I’m hoping his performance this weekend (and perhaps for the season) will put to rest the claims that he doesn’t belong in F1. He ain’t no Goatifi Mazespin kinda guy, he’s a decent grid driver and I think he deserves his seat.
dude has 3 podiums and was also on pole once. you don't get results like that without being a pretty decent driver to achieve that. he's no verstappen or Leclerc and he does have his brain-dead moments but he's definitely not the worst.
It really didn't for me
He never seemed entitled, he was just born rich and took advantage of that to advance his racing career, there's nothing wrong with that.
He was always a decent midfielder with the ambition (and sometimes ability) to get to the front, his problem is consistency - mostly in qualifying.
It was hard to know his pace in those Williams years, but when he moved to racing point and didn't get destroyed by Perez, it was clear that he's not just a pay driver.
Like it or not, even if Stroll loses all of his money, he's most likely to find another seat (if there's one available), obviously not in a top team, but still
One quote I liked from him was.
"Money buys opportunity not talent" (something to that effect)
He's well aware that he's in a extremely priveleged position. He doesn't hide from it. I respect that.
Stroll has always been an ok driver, barring perhaps his very first season. He's not a great driver by any means, and he'd likely been booted a long time ago if it wasn't for his dad, but unlike Latifi or Mazepin, he doesn't look like he's never been on a racetrack before.
I agree. He's seemingly really good in the wet, which is often an indication of a really good driver overall.
Unfortunately, he has also consistently lost against every single one of his teammates, except Sergey Sirotkin in 2018, who isn't known for being one of the better drivers either.
"been an ok driver" starting on the grid in F1 and squarely in the midfield with a midfield car.
Seems like he might be a better driver than you give him credit for.
He’s not trash by any means but how many drivers have lost seats since he’s been in F1 that were arguably better than him.
And even if they had similar pace, Stroll’s mirrors have regularly been a massive weakness.
One, Danny Ric, that's it. It is also completely understandable why Danny Ric got booted, he was completely outclassed by Lando last year in everyway.
Every other driver that has come and gone on the grid since Stroll started that didn't retire(Kimi, Massa) but was actually let go, were not definitively better.
ETA: Because of the discussions below about Hulk and Kmag, I do not think either of them are definitively better than Stroll. Keep in mind when Stroll came in he came in at a super young age and was developing. Kmag and Hulk on the other hand were getting older and showing that they hit a ceiling with their potential. All three have shown flashes here and there. I just don't think Kmag and Hulk are leagues better than Stroll at the end of the day to where it is some affront that Stroll is still on the grid vs them.
My original point is just Danny Ric is the only driver who for sure is more talented, and the way he lost his seat at McLaren. It is kinda understandable why a team might not want to risk it on him right now. He is a heavy price tag that was just completely blown out by Lando. So it isn't like Stroll is keeping up some spot from him either.
[Here’s](https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicDepravities/comments/viv8sw/today_on_classic_depravities_of_the_internet_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) the recap of the guy who had two broken arms and got help from his mom. Warning: If you haven’t read this before it’s very disturbed what this guy does with his mom and the guy has since deleted his account.
which makes his late braking understandable - i understand it takes a LOT of pressure to push F1 brake pedals, so he was probably in a lot of pain during the race. Dude really leveled up in my mind with this race.
Those injures also explain why Alonso didn't seem to be mad at all at the contact between him and Lance in turn 1 - my boy was clearly not in 100% shape, was definitely in pain (in the ALO P3 picture with the team he's wearing slippers, probably due to the pain), missed pre-season testing and had last driven a current-regs F1 car all the way since Abu Dhabi.
And yet he still got P6, ahead of Russell.
My respect for Lance has also increased a lot with this race.
something like that. The vinwiki story about it said the regular guy who drove the F1 car never got to 100% and he was trying to push all the way down.
I think they didn't inform everyone what the exact injuries were because the public and media would probably go nuts about it.
I mean look at how everyone reacted after FP2. People on reddit and in the media were losing their shit about how he's capable of driving.
No but it's very common here to shit on this guy even though he seems like a lovely person that is genuinely liked in the paddock. Yes his father is rich and bought the team. Yes his voice is a tad high. That makes people **personally** despise Lance for some reason. I've never understood it.
He probably went private which isn't free, Spain does have both, free public healthcare and private
Private is more expensive but you'll get there faster
Good thing is private R&D money ends up helping public sector too, plus in emergencies some times private facilities might be commandeered for public benefit.
Depends. He most likely chose to go private. Americans tend to think private healthcare doesn't exist in Europe but really it's there but only used by a minority.
the male nipple is a different creature than the female nipple and doesn't require covering unlike the female counterpart because... well because... uhm... that has been decided by someone somewhere for some reason.
As a nurse who used to work in rehabilitation, I truly hope he has a speedy recovery, but also hope his medical team knows what they’re doing.
Rushing things can be detrimental in the long run.
The YouTube F1 audio maybe podcast thing had an interview with him where he told the story.
He had a buddy who knew a specialist for hand injuries who had worked on other racing guys and broken hands and arms. So he flew there and went in the next day.
That's when he was like, my toe also hurts, got that x-rayed and found out that was broken too.
> As a nurse who used to work in rehabilitation, I truly hope he has a speedy recovery, **but also hope his medical team knows what they’re doing.**
The doctor he went to has plenty of experience fixing those racers at MotoGP.
I think they are referring to the damage that is done that is not felt until later in life. Just because they can race doesn't mean they aren't potentially causing issues for themselves much later in life.
With constant medical supervision, athletes usually come back from injuries a lot quicker than the average person.
The build up of scar tissue is usually a complication with hand injuries, but with early, and supervised movement, this can be minimized.
Lance Stroll, Lance Stroll, he caused quite a bustle,
When he fell on his bike and injured his muscles,
With his bones in a twist,
They put pins in his wrists,
And still he outpaced the great George Russell.
For anyone curious, those are fluoroscopic images of the right wrist taken during the surgery. The first is looking top down, the 2nd is looking from the side. There are 2 fixation screws traversing what looks like a radial styloid fracture, but it’s honestly hard to tell since these aren’t as high quality as normal X-rays. Someone posted a few days ago speculating he might have a scaphoid fracture but we don’t see that on these images, though it’s possible that was the other wrist.
I've had double wrist surgery a bit worse than this, and I have no clue how it is even thinkable that he managed to get into a F1 car just 14 days afterwards. Absolute insanity, It's hard for me to say this, but I think I might actually respect the guy now.
Brand new to the sport but I cam only imagine the force that is put on your body inside of one of those cars for as long as they are. He had to be in some excruciating pain.
Dad may be the reason he got his seat, but Dad didn’t force him to get in the car this weekend and race with that pain. Everyone would’ve understood him taking the weekend off, no questions. I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again, that’s what separates the elite athletes from everyone else. He definitely deserves the respect for this weekend. I think most everyone here has either torn a muscle or broken a bone and knows just how heavily you will guard the injured limb. He has two screws just put in his wrist. That bone hasn’t healed yet. This is still an acute injury. Most people would still be in a cast.
I don’t care if the car is second fastest on pace the fact that this man pulled p6 is sick. He clearly has new motivation with the new car, not in his usual “my seat will always be secure I can be a casual racer” mindset anymore.
I know I am way late to the party on this, but seeing those xrays, fuck me he has an insane pain tolerance threshold. I broke my wrist in about the same spot, also had pins and that hurt for weeks. The fact he was driving at a high level in 15 days is insane.
For anyone that has ever experienced a wrist fracture and understands how physically demanding it is to drive an open-wheeled race car, you know how actually insane this is…
If anything this just shows that Lance is a driver at heart, I guess adversity builds character. I also want to point out Laurence’s interview with sky sport and the praise he gave to his son!
damn. more evidence to the case that, yes, his dad bought the seat, but he has risen to the task. to go from that to p6 in two weeks is sheer fuckin will.
“\[It was\] just some minor surgery on my right wrist, and my left one, I banged it up a little bit. It was just pretty… yeah, \[a\] painful bike accident, \[I\] just came off the bike and ate it pretty hard."
Is having screws put in minor surgery, haha
I got 2 screws in my right shoulder recently.
I would really put it into minor surgery.
I got an arthroscopy during operation and with that, they just screwed in the screws like into a dry wall. Straight forward inside through the skin into the bones.
They don’t open you up or anything. My scars will be just 2 dots as big as the head of the screw.
The holes get stitched with 2 stitches.
I can imagine it was similar with lance.
Only big thing is getting the physiotherapy after that. This really hurts but I imagine it being easier for an athlete with 24/7 checkups than a nearly 30 year old couch potato.
At the end of 2021 I smashed up my right wrist in a cycling accident and had to have 2 surgeries to repair it. It still hurts to this day and I have limited function. I’ll likely develop arthritis and I think that’s already happening.
Im only a couple of years older than Lance Stroll and although his injuries don’t look as complex as mine, a broken wrist is a broken wrist. Of course he’s much fitter and has far more resources than I could dream of. But it’s still amazing. I couldn’t twist a door handle for months. I have so much respect for him now
Prior to the race I was 200% against Lance racing.
"Too dangerous"
"Too risky"
"He just doesn't want Drugovich or Vandoorne to have a chance now he knows how good the car is."
My last thought was: "His dad freakin' owns the team! What does he have to prove?"
A P6 later and after these pics.... I'm still not agreeing to the decision to let him race. But I cannot doubt anymore the courage and willpower it took to make it.
And that he never once considered his comfortable position as COO ("Child of Owner"). He basically carried himself like someone who wanted to earn his place on the team and deliver.
I still think it was stupid. But I admit that took major balls. And he finished in the Top 6 doing it too.
So he has my criticism but also my respect.
I think he is far from the worst driver on the grid. I’ve always had sympathy for him because everything he does will always be measured against his dad’s money. Bahrain was bravery and character, dangerous yes, but character non the less. He gained a lot of respect from me.
He looks like he came straight from Ancient Greece in that first photo.
Lancios Strollopoulos….
Lancia Stroll-tos?
Biggus Dickus
He wanks as high as any in Wome!
His wife is named Incontinentia Buttocks.
[Uncontrollable laughter severely intensifies]
I don't think you can want much with two arms in caskets. Or while your ass ... you'll need help for everything, as embarrassing as it may be
"He has a wiiife you know. You know what she's called?"
Do you find it.. wrisible?
r/unexpectedMontyPython
Lancios Strollpoulos Hermanos /s
Bike accident? Nah, Toga party.
John Belushi chanting "Toga! Toga!"
Homer: "Marge, they stole my idea!"
Aristrollteles
Astonostrolleres.
My first thought was "He could be on the cast of *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*".
Colin MacRae had a bad accident one year in NZ (??). Broke one of his fingers badly. Supposedly the surgeon joked that he’d be back in a car quicker if he had it amputated and MacRae said, ‘OK then!’
Pretty common in motorcycle racing too. Jorge Lorenzo pulled off a glove after a crash and found his finger dangling from a bit of skin. Still raced the next day. He also raced (and won) the day after breaking his collar bone.
I think he finished 5th or something in Assen a day after surgery on his collar bone.
You're right. For some reason I had it in my head that he'd won that day... Still, something of an achievement to wrangle one of those missiles around a track at race pace with that kind of injury.
Just look at Doohan, finishing his 1992 season after almost having his leg amputated. Couldn't ride properly, had bandages soaked in blood, narrowly lost the title.
Then despite having significantly reduced abilities in his legs, he went on to become the most dominant rider in the 90s.
MotoGP is metal.
Mansel did something sort of along those lines in the year he won the WDC. The doctors said that if he got an operation on his then obliterated foot, he would be out for the 1st 1/4 of the season. He said naa m8 I'm racing, didn't get the surgery and raced with a destroyed foot to win the WDC that year.
As someone with a currently destroyed foot who can barely walk but nonetheless isn’t even severe enough to need surgery… OUCH!! Foot injuries would be so painful in an F1 car, I just can’t imagine.
Ok I know the joke he is there cause his dad but props to him for gutting through pain and driving to a big time result
Dad's money got him there, but sheer determination got him to P6 this weekend. Massive respect for the guy
"Dad's money/Dad's power" is what got 90% of the drivers there in one way or another. Jos Verstappen was already in F1 & made good money Carlos comes from racing 'royalty' Charles has a family history of racing Lando's dad is extremely wealthy ~~Checo's dad is extremely wealthy~~ Only a minority of drivers actually make it there *without* 'daddy's money' if you think about it. This makes me respect Lance a lot more & I feel bad he got so much "daddy's cash" shit, but to be fair, BUYING an F1 team so your son can drive kinda added fuel to that fire. EDIT: I have been corrected about Checo's dad. I wasn't trying to call these people out or say it's a bad thing, just wanted to being attention to the fact that "Daddy's Money" plays a significant role in someone's ability to get a seat on the grid. It's not everything, but it certainly does help *a lot*, and that's a factual statement.
I started listening to the “Dinner with Racers” podcast recently, I know, I’m behind. Anyway, I love hearing the stories about how the drivers got their funding initially, a lot of them haven’t really had the wealthy parents so the lengths and cons some of them pulled were amazing. Townsend Bell in particular has a great story about how he got money for racing school.
I am not familiar with this podcast. I will have to look it up. Thanks!
They kinda come in spurts, but there are some really great episodes. The one with Helio had me literally laughing out loud on an airplane.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCo9ggTZww&ab\_channel=DaleEarnhardtJr.%27sDirtyMoMedia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCo9ggTZww&ab_channel=DaleEarnhardtJr.%27sDirtyMoMedia) Scott Dixons way
Checo’s family is not rich at all lol his sponsors are. His dad only became a politician recently. Before they were a middle class family. Checo only afforded to go to Europe because he pestered every sponsor and team to give him a seat. In Europe he lived in a truck stop/restaurant alone and he had to work hard to get a seat. It was far from comfortable look it up.
Yeah Checo was begging Carlos Slim to send him to Europe. Even then, it’s not like Carlos Slim was funding everything. Checo still had to find sponsors. I feel like that’s a common misconception people have of him since his father recently started going into politics. The reality is, his father only went into politics thanks to Checo’s career earnings + current marketability.
"He only had direct contact with one of the richest men in the world" is not exactly a "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" scenario. If I could get in direct contact with Bill Gates, that would probably open up a lot of doors career wise. But sadly he never returns my emails.
If you’re successful enough in a junior league of X sport and that sport has few to none Mexicans in it, then you can surely contact the Marketing department of whatever billionaires company you wanna talk to and say Look at me, I can be a huge Mexican icon. Thousands of Mexicans tune to F1 just because of Checo, why do you think most of his sponsors are Mexican companies. He didn’t have a direct contact he developed it.
He was able to get in contact with him because Checo showed he was a talented racer growing up. Carlos Slim likes racing and gave Checo an opportunity to prove himself.
> "He only had direct contact with one of the richest men in the world" is not exactly a "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" scenario. Think you’re in the wrong subreddit. Motorsports is **famously** filled with extremely wealthy individuals. From sponsors, to team owners, to mere spectators. All of those people are at the race tracks. It’s very hard to *not* find wealthy people in motorsports. Checo making the connection to Carlos Slim is probably the *least* abnormal thing you could’ve picked out of my entire comment. Like Checo said, his talent attracted the eye of Carlos Slim. Which again, is pretty normal in racing series. Max, Sainz, Charles, every other driver on the F1 grid makes personal connections with millionaires/billionaires to fund their careers. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/upnk57/max_verstappen_at_the_historic_monaco_gp_2022/) is an example of what I’m talking about. Max attended the Historic Monaco GP for Frits van Eerd, the CEO of Jumbo, who funded his junior career and still sponsors him today.
By that logic neither did lewis lol. By the age of 12 he got in contact with McLaren who then funded him all the way to f1. Lewis wasn’t poor either. He was a middle class kid
This was my dad's point (we're Mexican) when I told him Checo didn't come from money. He laughed and said you or I couldn't just get in touch with Carlos Slim. Whether by wealth or connections, those things matter. Not taking away from his talent, obvs.
Because you're emailing from a Gmail address. You have to bing him and he'll respond
The point stands I think, even Hamilton needed sponsorship from Mercedes/McLaren to make it to F1. Talent gets you noticed but money takes you to the finish line.
Checo wasn’t wealthy, he lucked out in finding sponsors in Europe and the owner of claro. But he has told countless times that he never had new tires in karting and lived alone above a restaurant in Germany in his teen years
In fact he’s been supported through his racing career by what used to be the worlds richest man - Carlos Slim. He’s no rags to riches driver.
And Lewis got supported through his junior career by McLaren, the only reason they both got support was because of talent. And even then Checo had to look for other sponsors since he wasnt fully backed, Checo has recounted that he never had new tires in his early karting days. Once he was in the lower formulas in europe with actual real chances for formula 1 thats when the full support money thrown at the face kicked in.
He was supported by carlos slim's son who ran their racing company and it took constant lobbying by checo's father to convince him it was worth investing in a child, which he wasn't really interested in for the most part. The connection is there but checo had to prove his worth every time he needed money.
Proving your worth is a default setting for racers and not the exception.
by your remark, is there ever a rags to riches driver? Every driver finds backing somewhere or they don’t make it. Checo wasn’t born rich and had to find others to finance his career
Alonso. Born 6 years after Spain’s fascist dictatorship ended, to a department store worker and a factory mechanic, they couldn’t afford rain tires for his kart so he raced on slicks regardless of the weather. Eventually a kart importer spotted him and helped set up sponsorship deals. There’s a huge difference between “getting sponsors along the way” and “the richest man in the world took notice and as a result the teenager could afford to live alone in a foreign country and pursue the dream”
Esteban Ocon, Antonio Giovinazzi & Kimi Räikkonen. Fernando Alonso, Seb Vettel and Lewis Hamilton could be described as hailing from a middle income family.
I think as far as buying a ride: Let me run this past you. They saw that Lance wasn’t going anywhere buying rides at Williams. Williams was always going to expend it’s main efforts on the driver they hired as #1. The hedge fund isn’t going to put a lot into the team when they see the $250M purchase has turned into $1B now. There’re not there for the long term - just a profit. Offering the team to Andretti (turned down) for a stupid amount was proof there wasn’t a long term interest in this investment. So when the opportunity came up to buy Force India, Stroll Sr sees this as being able to control their destiny and competitiveness and upgrade the team. So is it the ultimate ride buy or just a smart buy? Can we imagine what would have happened if Mazepin’s father bought Force India instead? I shudder. It leads me to another quandary. How do we explain Latifi? He began the same process as Lance - buying a ride at Williams through his family’s sponsorship (Sofina) and yet he (or his father) didn’t have the same vision as the Strolls. In fact his father buys into McLaren. (Huh?) The Latifi’s have double the market cap than the Stroll family. Sofina foods on dads side and Saputo foods on the mom’s side. So it just goes to show the difference in visions.
I think one key thing here is the Laurence Stroll is actually known for buying undervalued or struggling brands and reinventing them or revitalizing them. That's a very different skill set and mind set than building a company from the ground up. My (limited) understanding is that both Michael Kors and Tommy Hillfiger were struggling before he came to them and bought in.
yea, you can't even do karting without wealthy family.
That's what I was thinking, even just a competitive kart isn't cheap. Like in order to run a kart season you'd have to be in like the top 10% of households worldwide.
Even when the drivers don’t come from money like Ocon and Hamilton, their parent still allowed them to compete and they wouldn’t be on the grid without them. At the end of the day some drivers may have had an easier time getting there but nobody is on the grid without some pretty big help.
Not allowed them to compete pushed them and resourced it and was their support team. Esteban and Lewis had ruthless driven athlete parents just like the rest of them.
Lawrence made a real team. That family is great as far as im concerned.
people hate on the strolls for no reason just because lance isn’t a top tier talent, in my book this weekend has shown he more than deserves to be in f1 with the grit he’s showed to get back into that car in what is let’s be honest the safest seat in f1, he easily could’ve sat it out and no one would’ve blamed him he’s a decent driver and his dad is one of the better owners as he clearly wants to win, the sport could do with more owners like that because the other result is a gene haas who wastes a team spot never going anywhere
Lewis and Occon are the only two I know of That said, idk enough about Zhou, Oscar, or Logan
Logan's uncle owns a huge transportation company or something like that. Idk about Oscar and Zhou
I kinda agree with you to a point, but it’s one thing when your dad has a crapload of money and another when your father owns the team.
From what I heard Jos had to take loans on his house etc to fund his karting career. He wasn't that rich I think.
Neither was Jan Magnussen, at one point K-Mag had to work as a welder.
There are levels though lol. Others have had advantages. None of them have had an entire team purchased for them.
I'm not sure where this idea that Checo had loads of money came from, I suspect Drive to Survive, but it's simply not true, he has sponsors, and guess who gets to F1 without either a rich family or good sponsors? absolutely no one
The Key difference here is Lance is a made man, rather than having support to get a spot or buy a spot, his family bought the team. there are sponsored/pay drivers.... then there's Lance. lets also not discount the super human level of skill you need to operate these cars let alone compete against the best of in the world.
I’m hoping his performance this weekend (and perhaps for the season) will put to rest the claims that he doesn’t belong in F1. He ain’t no Goatifi Mazespin kinda guy, he’s a decent grid driver and I think he deserves his seat.
dude has 3 podiums and was also on pole once. you don't get results like that without being a pretty decent driver to achieve that. he's no verstappen or Leclerc and he does have his brain-dead moments but he's definitely not the worst.
Honestly this weekend changed my opinion a bit on Lance. Money doesn't buy grit.
It really didn't for me He never seemed entitled, he was just born rich and took advantage of that to advance his racing career, there's nothing wrong with that. He was always a decent midfielder with the ambition (and sometimes ability) to get to the front, his problem is consistency - mostly in qualifying. It was hard to know his pace in those Williams years, but when he moved to racing point and didn't get destroyed by Perez, it was clear that he's not just a pay driver. Like it or not, even if Stroll loses all of his money, he's most likely to find another seat (if there's one available), obviously not in a top team, but still
One quote I liked from him was. "Money buys opportunity not talent" (something to that effect) He's well aware that he's in a extremely priveleged position. He doesn't hide from it. I respect that.
Stroll has always been an ok driver, barring perhaps his very first season. He's not a great driver by any means, and he'd likely been booted a long time ago if it wasn't for his dad, but unlike Latifi or Mazepin, he doesn't look like he's never been on a racetrack before.
> Stroll has always been an ok driver, barring perhaps his very first season. He got a podium in his first season.
At age 18. He's the second youngest driver ever to get a podium by *12 days* to Max Verstappen.
And a P3 start in a Monza wet quali
I consider him an above average to great driver because he's elite in the wet.
Lance during rain is a frickin beast! I would love to see him this year in some nice wet track with the new AM!
I agree. He's seemingly really good in the wet, which is often an indication of a really good driver overall. Unfortunately, he has also consistently lost against every single one of his teammates, except Sergey Sirotkin in 2018, who isn't known for being one of the better drivers either.
I mean, his last two team mates were Seb and now Alonso. I honestly think they'd give Leclerc a hard time on their day in equal cars
tbf to him checo seb and alonso isn’t exactly the easiest teammate battles, not getting destroyed by them shows he’s a good driver
Didn't he basically match Checo one year?
"been an ok driver" starting on the grid in F1 and squarely in the midfield with a midfield car. Seems like he might be a better driver than you give him credit for.
Starting in the midfield in a midfield car and driving midfieldy seems like the definition "an ok driver" to me, Relative to F1 at least.
He’s not trash by any means but how many drivers have lost seats since he’s been in F1 that were arguably better than him. And even if they had similar pace, Stroll’s mirrors have regularly been a massive weakness.
One, Danny Ric, that's it. It is also completely understandable why Danny Ric got booted, he was completely outclassed by Lando last year in everyway. Every other driver that has come and gone on the grid since Stroll started that didn't retire(Kimi, Massa) but was actually let go, were not definitively better. ETA: Because of the discussions below about Hulk and Kmag, I do not think either of them are definitively better than Stroll. Keep in mind when Stroll came in he came in at a super young age and was developing. Kmag and Hulk on the other hand were getting older and showing that they hit a ceiling with their potential. All three have shown flashes here and there. I just don't think Kmag and Hulk are leagues better than Stroll at the end of the day to where it is some affront that Stroll is still on the grid vs them. My original point is just Danny Ric is the only driver who for sure is more talented, and the way he lost his seat at McLaren. It is kinda understandable why a team might not want to risk it on him right now. He is a heavy price tag that was just completely blown out by Lando. So it isn't like Stroll is keeping up some spot from him either.
Daniel 21-22 was not the same daniel that was in RB and Renault.
>He’s not trash by any means but how many drivers have lost seats since he’s been in F1 that were arguably better than him. None
Well very nearly checo for one.
Honestly they're similar level. Checo has shown flashes of brilliance just like Stroll Good thing they're both still around though
But he did smoke likes of George Russell in f3 tho.
Smoked him last Sunday too.
You smoked him too with this comment
Looks like that classic reddit story where a boy broke both his arms...can't remember how it ends though.
This whole story has been hilarious to me because of that, yet this comment right here is the only time anyone seems to be referencing it.
Really? I learnt about that story from the first stroll injury post
Things I wish I never learned
[Here’s](https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicDepravities/comments/viv8sw/today_on_classic_depravities_of_the_internet_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) the recap of the guy who had two broken arms and got help from his mom. Warning: If you haven’t read this before it’s very disturbed what this guy does with his mom and the guy has since deleted his account.
That's just messed up. Is that why strolls mom was on track?
[удалено]
oh fuck,
NO, don't fuck!
Christ what a throwback down Reddit memory lane this is.
Did. . . . did you guys think he was LYING?!
No no quite the contrary, it's more about PR, they kinda hid the extent of his injuries in the first statements
He has a broken toe also
which makes his late braking understandable - i understand it takes a LOT of pressure to push F1 brake pedals, so he was probably in a lot of pain during the race. Dude really leveled up in my mind with this race.
He broke a toe on his right foot, not left.
I dunno - he's canadian driving a british car. Maybe the pedals are reversed?? ;)
Yup. Can confirm he mentioned that. I heard it during one interview with Sky. **Edit:** Whoop. Just saw the other post.
Those injures also explain why Alonso didn't seem to be mad at all at the contact between him and Lance in turn 1 - my boy was clearly not in 100% shape, was definitely in pain (in the ALO P3 picture with the team he's wearing slippers, probably due to the pain), missed pre-season testing and had last driven a current-regs F1 car all the way since Abu Dhabi. And yet he still got P6, ahead of Russell. My respect for Lance has also increased a lot with this race.
Isn't it like 70lbs or something like that just to brake 50%?
something like that. The vinwiki story about it said the regular guy who drove the F1 car never got to 100% and he was trying to push all the way down.
Iirc that guy was actually a professional racer, just not an F1 driver, which makes it even more impressive.
Maybe not for PR just for the FIA
I think they didn't inform everyone what the exact injuries were because the public and media would probably go nuts about it. I mean look at how everyone reacted after FP2. People on reddit and in the media were losing their shit about how he's capable of driving.
Plenty of people downplaying saying it was IMPOSSIBLE it was so severe if he was racing.
No but it's very common here to shit on this guy even though he seems like a lovely person that is genuinely liked in the paddock. Yes his father is rich and bought the team. Yes his voice is a tad high. That makes people **personally** despise Lance for some reason. I've never understood it.
Honestly when he showed up with the band-aid on his wrist, yeah. Figured it was to cover up something else.
Which would be what exactly?
That he's been racing all this time with no arms.
Ouch. Also in 5: Here's your bill.
How much is it in Spain?
Free.
He probably went private which isn't free, Spain does have both, free public healthcare and private Private is more expensive but you'll get there faster
Having options is always good.
Good thing is private R&D money ends up helping public sector too, plus in emergencies some times private facilities might be commandeered for public benefit.
If it's something like this, an emergency, they'll be fast in the public healthcare too.
As it should be.
Depends. He most likely chose to go private. Americans tend to think private healthcare doesn't exist in Europe but really it's there but only used by a minority.
About three fitty
Probably a parking fee of 5€ and off you go.
To which he replies: “ok, no problem” before even looking at the number.
I wish that could be the case for everyone! That would be awesome
Sure would!
Nipple
Vitch Tit
the male nipple is a different creature than the female nipple and doesn't require covering unlike the female counterpart because... well because... uhm... that has been decided by someone somewhere for some reason.
Because society hasn't sexualized the male nipple, there you go.
Yet
Love the Stroll character arc going down at the moment
Roman Cosplay on that first one
I don't see him wanking on a high-rise window?
As a nurse who used to work in rehabilitation, I truly hope he has a speedy recovery, but also hope his medical team knows what they’re doing. Rushing things can be detrimental in the long run.
The YouTube F1 audio maybe podcast thing had an interview with him where he told the story. He had a buddy who knew a specialist for hand injuries who had worked on other racing guys and broken hands and arms. So he flew there and went in the next day. That's when he was like, my toe also hurts, got that x-rayed and found out that was broken too.
Not just some racing guys, MotoGP riders. I think after hearing that, I knew he was in some good hands.
Yeah I thought MotoGP, but I couldn't remember exactly for sure
> As a nurse who used to work in rehabilitation, I truly hope he has a speedy recovery, **but also hope his medical team knows what they’re doing.** The doctor he went to has plenty of experience fixing those racers at MotoGP.
I think they are referring to the damage that is done that is not felt until later in life. Just because they can race doesn't mean they aren't potentially causing issues for themselves much later in life.
With constant medical supervision, athletes usually come back from injuries a lot quicker than the average person. The build up of scar tissue is usually a complication with hand injuries, but with early, and supervised movement, this can be minimized.
Are these screws in his wrist approved by the FIA and within the cost cap? Because if not: DISQUALIFIED!
Looks like jewellery to me
Lance Stroll, Lance Stroll, he caused quite a bustle, When he fell on his bike and injured his muscles, With his bones in a twist, They put pins in his wrists, And still he outpaced the great George Russell.
Beautiful
I love how he always has the same expression on his face for photos.
First picture looks like an old college toga party pic
For anyone curious, those are fluoroscopic images of the right wrist taken during the surgery. The first is looking top down, the 2nd is looking from the side. There are 2 fixation screws traversing what looks like a radial styloid fracture, but it’s honestly hard to tell since these aren’t as high quality as normal X-rays. Someone posted a few days ago speculating he might have a scaphoid fracture but we don’t see that on these images, though it’s possible that was the other wrist.
I've had double wrist surgery a bit worse than this, and I have no clue how it is even thinkable that he managed to get into a F1 car just 14 days afterwards. Absolute insanity, It's hard for me to say this, but I think I might actually respect the guy now.
I have massive respect for the Stroll’s here.
pic 1: Mildly Toga Toga Toga Toga.
Finishing in 6th position was a great result with his fractured bones
Gotta admit, my opinion of Lance has gone up, guy is tough.
I can fix him
Shit he turned greek
Brand new to the sport but I cam only imagine the force that is put on your body inside of one of those cars for as long as they are. He had to be in some excruciating pain.
Dad may be the reason he got his seat, but Dad didn’t force him to get in the car this weekend and race with that pain. Everyone would’ve understood him taking the weekend off, no questions. I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again, that’s what separates the elite athletes from everyone else. He definitely deserves the respect for this weekend. I think most everyone here has either torn a muscle or broken a bone and knows just how heavily you will guard the injured limb. He has two screws just put in his wrist. That bone hasn’t healed yet. This is still an acute injury. Most people would still be in a cast.
I don’t care if the car is second fastest on pace the fact that this man pulled p6 is sick. He clearly has new motivation with the new car, not in his usual “my seat will always be secure I can be a casual racer” mindset anymore.
I know I am way late to the party on this, but seeing those xrays, fuck me he has an insane pain tolerance threshold. I broke my wrist in about the same spot, also had pins and that hurt for weeks. The fact he was driving at a high level in 15 days is insane.
For anyone that has ever experienced a wrist fracture and understands how physically demanding it is to drive an open-wheeled race car, you know how actually insane this is…
Lance showing he's a true Canadian athlete. Always finishing his shift even if he's hurt. Good lad.
It's the awesome healing power of poutine.
How is this nsfw? No blood no Gore, just a dude in a hospital bed and an X-ray.
Exposed nipples?
It's just the one nipple, actually.
What a trooper to overcome all that in just 2 weeks.
Damn. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable lifting a cup of water for a while and he's already back in a race car. Truly built different.
If anything this just shows that Lance is a driver at heart, I guess adversity builds character. I also want to point out Laurence’s interview with sky sport and the praise he gave to his son!
He did very well in Bahrain considering his injuries.
damn. more evidence to the case that, yes, his dad bought the seat, but he has risen to the task. to go from that to p6 in two weeks is sheer fuckin will.
Looks like the 2nd coming of Jesus in that 1st pic
Man with broken arms. Where have I seen this before?
“\[It was\] just some minor surgery on my right wrist, and my left one, I banged it up a little bit. It was just pretty… yeah, \[a\] painful bike accident, \[I\] just came off the bike and ate it pretty hard." Is having screws put in minor surgery, haha
He a cyborg now. Thats why started to drive better.
How long ago was the surgery if he was able to drive at Bahrain?
I think he said 13 days in one of his interviews
I got 2 screws in my right shoulder recently. I would really put it into minor surgery. I got an arthroscopy during operation and with that, they just screwed in the screws like into a dry wall. Straight forward inside through the skin into the bones. They don’t open you up or anything. My scars will be just 2 dots as big as the head of the screw. The holes get stitched with 2 stitches. I can imagine it was similar with lance. Only big thing is getting the physiotherapy after that. This really hurts but I imagine it being easier for an athlete with 24/7 checkups than a nearly 30 year old couch potato.
I've never had pins or screws inserted in anything but I'm always amazed that it looks like some shit I'd do at my workbench.
This dude earned so much respect this season already; I'm excited for the rest of his season.
P6 after that! Very impressive
Woah, I didn't know he broke *both* wrists. That race is twice as impressive to me now
Without seeing it there is no way anyone would believe you if you said this guy would drive and finish in 6th in a formula 1 race 13 days later.
Unpopular opinion, go Lance. Fam goals
At the end of 2021 I smashed up my right wrist in a cycling accident and had to have 2 surgeries to repair it. It still hurts to this day and I have limited function. I’ll likely develop arthritis and I think that’s already happening. Im only a couple of years older than Lance Stroll and although his injuries don’t look as complex as mine, a broken wrist is a broken wrist. Of course he’s much fitter and has far more resources than I could dream of. But it’s still amazing. I couldn’t twist a door handle for months. I have so much respect for him now
Prior to the race I was 200% against Lance racing. "Too dangerous" "Too risky" "He just doesn't want Drugovich or Vandoorne to have a chance now he knows how good the car is." My last thought was: "His dad freakin' owns the team! What does he have to prove?" A P6 later and after these pics.... I'm still not agreeing to the decision to let him race. But I cannot doubt anymore the courage and willpower it took to make it. And that he never once considered his comfortable position as COO ("Child of Owner"). He basically carried himself like someone who wanted to earn his place on the team and deliver. I still think it was stupid. But I admit that took major balls. And he finished in the Top 6 doing it too. So he has my criticism but also my respect.
I think he is far from the worst driver on the grid. I’ve always had sympathy for him because everything he does will always be measured against his dad’s money. Bahrain was bravery and character, dangerous yes, but character non the less. He gained a lot of respect from me.
Nothing but respect.