Breaking news
Formula 1
Vandoorne was "exposed" as Alonso's teammate - Boullier
Stoffel Vandoorne was exposed at the beginning of his Formula 1 career by having Fernando Alonso as his teammate but now has the confidence and is delivering, says Eric Boullier.
Lawrence Barretto
Edited: Oct 16, 2017, 10:37 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Vandoorne, who is making his full-season debut this term, has been in good form of late, scoring points for McLaren in Singapore and Malaysia with two seventh places to move ahead of Alonso in the drivers' standings.
Last time out in Japan, Alonso squeezed him out of Q3 by just 0.029 seconds, but though he started ninth because of grid penalties, his race was undone following contact with Kimi Raikkonen on lap 1 and he ended up 14th.
McLaren's racing director Boullier says Vandoorne has adapted his driving style since June and has begun to get on top of his difficulties with the tyres.
"Hard work, trust, confidence and talent," said Boullier when asked Motorsport.com to explain Vandoorne's turnaround in form.
"He has been very exposed because of his teammate, Fernando, a double world champion.
"Any young driver who join F1 in the last five years had a period, the same as Stoffel, to adapt to F1.
"If you're in a [smaller] team, it's more quiet. But if you're at McLaren, next to Fernando Alonso, obviously it's more difficult.
"Since June now, the approach we had with Stoffel, and his approach with us, has been a bit different. We've worked on his understanding of F1 and obviously tyres.
"Now he has gained the confidence he has needed to be able to extract the best out of his car. This is why you're seeing the Stoffel we are expecting to unlock."
Vandoorne says he feels more settled with the team and has now developed a confidence with the car that helps him push on.
"The way I am working with the team, working with engineers has developed a lot," said Vandoorne.
"Having had the opportunity to have a bit more track time enabled us to see what I needed from the car, to understand what I needed from the car.
"I am just confident that things will work and things will go and that is a nice feeling, to feel comfortable and do with the car what you want to do."
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 Ex-Ferrari staff gives Aston Martin "capability" for F1 project
Next article Promoted: United States GP preview with F1 Experiences
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lawrence Barretto
Rowland to test Super Formula car this month
Super Formula
Super Formula Mar 1, 2018
Rowland to test Super Formula car this month
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Formula 1
Formula 1 Feb 28, 2018
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Formula 1
Formula 1 Feb 27, 2018
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
More from
Fernando Alonso
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 19 h
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 d
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 d
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Latest news
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
General
Misc General 53 min
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
7 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
8 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
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