McLaren has officially confirmed that Stoffel Vandoorne will continue to race for the team in 2018. This season marks Vandoorne’s first full year in Formula 1 after competing in one race in 2016. Partnering Fernando Alonso, the Belgian driver has had a tough start to his career, but despite this, Zak Brown remained adamant that McLaren would keep Vandoorne for 2018.
McLaren confirm Stoffel Vandoorne for 2018
This was officially confirmed this morning, and Vandoorne was happy to stay with the team for another year: “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 teammate,” he added.
Vandoorne concluded by thanking the supporters of McLaren and the backers of the Woking-based team: “Last but not least, I want to say thank you to McLaren’s partners and fans for their loyalty and enthusiasm – they are the best in the business – and also to McLaren’s Executive Committee Principals, [Shaikh] Mohammed and Mansour [Ojjeh], who continue to put their faith in me.”
Vandoorne struggled at the start of this season but has put in stronger and more consistent performances prior to the summer beak, enjoying a competitive race at Austria and his first points finish of the year at Hungary.
When F1 returns this weekend, Vandoorne will head to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix – his home race. This is an event that he is looking forward to, having not experienced a home grand prix before.
“I’ve been looking forward to driving in my first Belgian Grand Prix as a Formula 1 driver for so long. It’s exciting for any driver at their home Grand Prix because it’s always a special weekend. It’ll be great to have the backing of my home crowd, and there’ll be a lot of fans out there, as well as family and friends coming to support,” he said.
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