Vandoorne hit the wall four times during Q1 lap

Stoffel Vandoorne once again failed to make it out of the first part of qualifying in Singapore. This time, he has accepted responsibility for this failure, saying that he hit the wall four times, in which what he described as a 'messy' lap.

This under-performance continues a rather unwanted streak for Vandoorne, as he has not made it out of Q1 since the Canadian GP in June. Due to this, he has been dropped by McLaren for 2019 in favour of Lando Norris, leaving him struggling to find a seat.

He said: “My last run on the new tyres was extremely messy from my side – I touched the wall about four times I think. We should definitely have been in Q2 as that was when the track was at its best. It’s a shame because the pace was there to progress. I think the car is okay so that’s good. I tried to squeeze everything out of the car. When you do a bit too much and you overheat the tyres, the lap-time doesn’t come towards you. It’s all about qualifying here.”

“I think our race pace is usually a bit better than qualifying – we’ve known that since the start of the year – but around here it’s very difficult to overtake, so it’ll have to be about a good strategy.

"The key will be to see what the runners on hyper softs can do, how long they can make them last. At least we have free tyre choice so hopefully we can gamble a little bit. Anything can happen here in Singapore. There’s 100 per cent chance of a Safety Car so there’ll probably be one at some point.”