Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingKiwi
Stanaway is prone to mistakes? You've got to be kidding! As a teenager you don't win 12 out of 18 Formel Masters races and 13 out of 18 German F3 races if you make mistakes ... by noting the Le Mans error you chose the only significant racing mistake of his entire career. Stanaway is quite possibly the most gifted driver to come out of New Zealand and considering the other possibilities are Amon and Thackwell, that's really saying something.
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I think I can remember two instances of Stanaway leading a race and caught completely asleep at a VSC restart and being passed. One was in GP3, can't remember where the other one was but I couldn't believe he did the same thing twice.
Also his 2 GP2 wins were a little lucky at the end. He overcooked the tyres at Monaco and had nothing left at the end, another lap he probably would have been passed. Then his second GP2 win he did the same thing and somehow got passed on the last lap with just a few corners to go. Through pure luck, a yellow or red flag suddenly ended the race and they had to go back to the previous timing line, where Richie was still ahead.
His 3.5 campaign also had some crashes, the most notable breaking his back when he went over the back of another car. That's one I'd consider significant, more than his Le Mans crash. But yeah WEC has been a bit disappointing for him, he's had what 2 wins in 5 years, team mates went on to be champs.
But anyway I'm not denying his talent, I think he's extremely quick and done wonders with most of the cars he's been in, which have normally not been leading teams. Just a shame he never got picked up as he might have been noticed a bit more - the Lotus drive in 3.5 was really his best chance to get noticed because it should have been a top team that year, but sadly that's the one where nothing went right and the team seem to suddenly have some issues as well because his team mate was struggling too. But yeah one of the quickest drivers around I think. I know others on this forum don't rate him quite as highly but I'm a bit biased
I actually feel a little disappointed he wants to return home to V8 Supercars. He has such potential on the international scene and the creds, V8SC he could come back and do in a decade, anytime he wants. Plus its already got some fantastic kiwi drivers in it with Giz, Scotty, Fabs. Andre might not be finished yet either.