Vandoorne very frustrated by the avalanche of problems on his McLaren

Is Stoffel Vandoorne's tongue starting to loosen? He who is usually so measured and in the mold McLaren was frankly annoyed by the problems encountered during the first free practices at Spa-Francorchamps.

Under the eyes of his public, the native of Kortrijk was only able to ride sporadically. Worse still, Vandoorne brought up the rear of the two Friday sessions, more than three full seconds behind the reference times.

« We had lots of problems all day with problems in the morning with the brake pedal, then with the ERS (energy recovery systems, Editor’s note), the person concerned commented afterwards. In Free Practice 2, it also started badly with another problem.

I always arrive here with a lot of motivation. It’s a Grand Prix and a circuit that I really like. I feel the support of the fans and it hurts my heart not to be able to give them a good result.  

We weren't really able to do any normal preparation for the weekend. We did a run in normal conditions. We see that in terms of competitiveness we are still very far away. There is still a lot of work to do. The only chance for us to have a good result is rain. Without that, it will be complicated to get through to Q2 ».
 
Vandoorne's situation is all the more delicate as his place at McLaren, or even in Formula 1, is greatly threatened. The Woking team has also rotated its reserve Lando Norris in the car Fernando Alonso in FP1 with a clear objective: to evaluate the young British driver with a view to future promotion.

« It's natural for the team to want to compare us but they should first provide us with a car capable of running on the track, said Vandoorne when asked about this remote duel with Norris.

It’s very frustrating, we barely did any laps. It's a little difficult to understand why this always happens to me. The team is trying to do the best possible but it's starting to take a lot. She expects a lot from me but it's also up to them to give me a car that works and doesn't break down.

This is starting to cause a lot of problems on my end. I have always remained very positive, very optimistic, but every time I get back in the car there is another problem. I just hope to have a clear day on Saturday ».

While Vandoorne left the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit with his shoulders drawn in and a serious expression on Friday evening, it was difficult not to feel sorry for the former GP2 Series champion who still took the time to take selfies with smile.