Boutsen urges Vandoorne to be patient amid struggling start

Former F1 driver Thierry Boutsen has advised fellow Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne to be patient while McLaren-Honda works its way back to success. Currently, the McLaren-Honda package is stuck in the midfield pack but has improved since the start of the season.

Vandoorne is taking part in his first ever full season in Formula 1 and seems to have come out of his shell in recent rounds, which differed from the early events when his performances were a shadow of his teammate Fernando Alonso. Boutsen admits that he is upset seeing McLaren where it currently is.

"If you like Formula 1, it hurts to see where they are," Boutsen told the Dutch publication Formule 1. But Stoffel must persevere. As a driver you have to block out the rear view mirror because you have to always look ahead. He still has time.

"He's only 25 and my first victory also took time. But I knew from the start 'Give me a good car and you'll hear the Belgian anthem'. So he must have patience. From what I saw in the lower classes I can say confidently that Stoffel has the potential to be world champion."

Boutsen added that Vandoorne must remember that he came to Formula 1 because of how he impressed in the junior categories. The former Williams driver said that it is very difficult for a Belgian driver to make it to F1 due to a lack of major sponsors.

"For Belgians it is so much harder to get to F1," he confirmed. "Belgium has no big sponsors, so you have to do it all alone. I know it well, as at Williams I was better than my teammate Riccardo Patrese but as an Italian he was commercially more interesting. And another sponsor, Labatt, wanted a driver for the British market, which was Nigel Mansell. As a Belgian you always have to show more than an Englishman, Italian or German."

Fergal Walsh