Stoffel Vandoorne: “My best race in F1”

Less prominent than his double world champion teammate at the start of the season, Stoffel vandoorne seems to have gained the upper hand in the second half of the year since the announcement of his reappointment at McLaren. Proud of a 7^e place at the Singapore Grand Prix, he repeated this same performance at Sepang.

 « I can say it was my best race ever F1 until now, admits the Belgian. All weekend I was very strong and I was confident in the car. After qualifying 7^e, we didn't really know where we were going to finish the race, so finish 7^e is a great result."

Throughout the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, the McLarens surprised with their pace, given the fast nature of the circuit with its two long straights. The two single-seaters in Q3, it was Stoffel Vandoorne who achieved the best qualification of the weekend with a 7^e starting position, converted to 6^e place after the withdrawal of Kimi Räikkönen on the grid.

The Belgian then completed an error-free race and was the author of one of the best overtakes of the event, passing both Williams in the first sector.

 « I had a good start, I thought it would be difficult to hold off the Force Indias and the Williams but in the end only Pérez overtook me. After that, I had a very good pace, I attacked every lap while paying attention to the tires and keeping a gap with Stroll, which I did until the end. I am very happy ! »

Thanks to the twelve points collected since the start of the Asian tour, Stoffel Vandoorne is now 14^e of the ranking, ahead Fernando Alonso for the first time this year, the Spaniard 16^e three points behind the Belgian. The latter could still add points to his total this weekend at Suzuka where he won the last SuperFormula race in 2016.