Breaking news
Formula 1
Vandoorne feels he can perform like Alonso "a lot more now"
Stoffel Vandoorne believes he is now more capable of producing the same sort of performances in difficult circumstances as McLaren Formula 1 teammate Fernando Alonso.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Apr 25, 2018, 3:36 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Vandoorne's rookie F1 season coincided with McLaren's tricky final year with Honda and the Belgian struggled, particularly compared to two-time champion Alonso, who continued to impress.
McLaren switched to a Renault engine supply for 2018 and although it has not been able to escape a tight midfield battle, Vandoorne has been much closer to Alonso's performance.
He has qualified one place behind the Spaniard in all three grands prix, trailing him by 0.25s on average, with his race highlight being a Bahrain charge to eighth after falling to last at the start.
Vandoorne said he was beginning to emulate Alonso's ability to "still be able to pull it out of the bag" in tougher scenarios.
"He knows how to overcome a few things, how to build his weekend towards those critical moments," said Vandoorne of Alonso's 17 years' experience.
"It's one of his strengths, whatever the conditions and circumstances he always delivers at 99% and that for me has been very good to learn out of.
"I definitely feel I became a lot stronger and am able to do this myself a lot more now whenever conditions are difficult or the situation is tricky."
McLaren's lack of one-lap pace at the start of the season has left it unable to make the final part of qualifying so far.
Alonso has translated that Saturday disadvantage into big hauls on Sunday, and lies sixth in the drivers' championship with 22 points.
Vandoorne, who only has six points and struggled more in the last race in China than the first two races, insists he takes the challenge of being Alonso's teammate positively.
"I have a great benchmark, I know exactly when I'm up there, fighting for the last few hundredths, we're getting 100% out of the package," he said.
"If I want to be world champion one day, I'll have to beat a world champion. It's good to have that."
During his tough F1 initiation Vandoorne was knocked out of the first part of qualifying for the first five races of 2017 as Alonso progressed each time.
He admitted he needed a "completely different view and expectation" from his frontrunning junior career, in which he won titles in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2.
"It definitely was a change of mentality," he said. "We knew last year it was very hard to even score a point, so it's a very different approach.
"At the start, maybe it was a bit difficult, but you learn how to deal with things during a season and the middle to the end was very good.
"You set yourself new challenges, and in the end it was very meaningful to overcome the struggles and different problems we had."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ferrari already backing Vettel over Raikkonen - Symonds
Next article Mercedes junior Russell set to test for two F1 teams
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Fernando Alonso
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
Fernando Alonso set for Dakar Rally comeback with Aston Martin
Dakar
Dakar
Fernando Alonso set for Dakar Rally comeback with Aston Martin
More from
McLaren
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Latest news
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 min
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
23 min
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
Zane Smith furious as he slams into Carson Hocevar after NASCAR Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
35 min
Zane Smith furious as he slams into Carson Hocevar after NASCAR Cup race
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Phoenix II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Phoenix II
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe