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Stoffel Vandoorne has admitted that there is pressure on McLaren to perform this season. The Woking-based outfit runs with Renault power in 2018, after enduring a series of unsuccessful and frustrating years powered by Japanese manufacturer Honda.
However, McLaren's winter testing did not go to plan, with a series of issues arising throughout the eight days. In Melbourne, for the first race weekend of the year, Vandoorne's teammate Fernando Alonso said that the integration of the Renault power unit will take time, but results should come quickly.
"The integration of the Renault engine will take some time," the double-world champion said. "But we should be able to get into the points regularly and maybe even close to the podium. We are McLaren, after all. The results must be better than before. This is the year to prove it. We are not yet on the level of the top three teams, but we should be in the second half of the season."
Vandoorne enters his second season of Formula 1, having learned the ropes last year. The Belgian agrees with the comments made by Alonso and says that the team now has a good foundation to build a race-winning car.
"I'm the same as Fernando," he told RTBF. "There will be pressure, but that's normal. Now with the Renault engine, we have a very good reference to compare with Renault and Red Bull. It's good for the team to have a little more pressure now to produce a car that is able to win."
Fergal Walsh
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Replies (2)
Login to replyKevin
Posts: 5,341
I expect a lot from Vandoorne this season. Expecting him to match Alonso.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I am still undecided about Vandoorne. He definitely didn't benefit from an extremely unreliable Honda and a Fernando Alonso perhaps in the best form of his career. Looking forward to his performances this season.