McLaren Confirm Vandoorne

McLAREN CONFIRM VANDOORNE FOR 2018

    Stoffel Vandoorne has confirmed he will race with McLaren for his second season in Formula 1.

    The GP2 champion made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2015 when he replaced Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He joined the grid full time this season, and has so far taken a single point from 11 races.

    “I’m delighted that the team has now formally announced that I will continue to race for them next year, because I’ll be able to approach the second half of my rookie season with total focus on the job in hand: namely getting the very most I can out of my car, my engineers, and everything and everyone around me,”  he said.

    “I’ve already learned such a huge amount in the first half of my first season in Formula 1 – from my engineers, from my mechanics, from Eric [Boullier], from Zak [Brown] and from Jonathan [Neale], and also from Fernando [Alonso], who is a brilliant driver and also an excellent team-mate.”

    It had been expected Vandoorne would remain with McLaren, who he joined at the start of 2013 as a junior driver, having signed a long-term deal at the start of the year.

    “When we announced at the end of 2016 that Stoffel would be a McLaren Honda race driver for 2017, we indicated that our plan was that he’d race for us for a number of years,” racing director Boullier said.

    “The plan hasn’t changed, and I’m very happy therefore to be able to confirm that he’ll continue to race for us next season."

    “Like all rookies, he’s had to learn a lot in the first half of his first f1 season, but we have great confidence in him, and he’s getting better and better all the time."

    “His team-mate is a tough opponent – that’s an understatement in fact, because he’s arguably the best driver in the sport today – but Stoffel’s robust talent and fierce ambition make us sure that he’ll achieve great success with us in the future.”

    The announcement comes ahead of his home grand prix, where he’s set to receive a 35-place grid penalty for an engine upgrade.

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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