---
title: "Vandoorne’s curious start to life in F1"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/05/16/vandoornes-curious-start-life-f1/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Kyran Gibbons"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2017-05-16T17:40:36Z"
modified: "2017-05-16T17:40:36Z"
---

# Vandoorne’s curious start to life in F1

To say Stoffel Vandoorne’s first full season in Formula 1 has got off to a stuttering start would be understating the fact. The Belgian is yet to score a point this season and has been rather anonymous to date.

Hardly the form expected of the man who dominated the 2015 GP2 championship in unprecedented fashion, before going on to score McLaren’s first point of 2016 in his one-off appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

There are, of course, several factors outside Vandoorne’s control that have severely hampered his maiden campaign thus far. For one, the McLaren-Honda MCL32 is unreliable and underpowered.

The fact that the Belgian has already exceeded his quota of engine elements for the season is evidence of the trials and tribulations that the McLaren-Honda project currently faces and Vandoorne is an innocent victim of circumstance here.

In an interview featured on [Motorsport.com](https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vandoorne-mclaren-s-troubles-make-it-difficult-to-impress-887620/?v=2&s=1&q=Vandoorne) following the Australian Grand Prix, Vandoorne was asked how difficult it is to showcase his talent with the package at his disposal, to which he replied; “It’s difficult for sure when the package is not performing as it should be.

“From my position the only thing I can do is keep pushing hard with the team, fighting every position I can. \[I need to\] do my best with the engineers and extract the maximum out of the package I have.

“I think I more or less got the most out of the car.”

![Mark Thompson/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/05/682205456.jpg)

This is arguably where the plot begins to unravel for Vandoorne. Being team-mate to Fernando Alonso is surely one of the biggest challenges a Formula 1 driver in this era can face. To compound matters, the Spaniard has been in electric form this season.

Alonso has out-qualified his rookie team-mate in each of the five races to date. This statistic in isolation could be forgiven, considering the comparative experience Alonso commands, coupled with his unquestionable raw ability. However, the numbers behind their qualifying duel are more concerning.

Vandoorne’s best Saturday of the year so far came in Bahrain, when he managed to close to within three-tenths of his team-mate. However, in both Australia and Spain, the Belgian was a full 1.5 seconds adrift of Alonso, who managed to progress to Q3 in Barcelona while Vandoorne was ejected in Q1.

Over the course of the five qualifying sessions to date, Vandoorne has been on average 0.96s behind Alonso. Evidently, he is not yet able to unlock the ultimate performance of the package underneath him.

![Dan Istitene/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/05/674733422.jpg)

In addition, his race craft – for which he received acclaim in the junior categories – seems to have escaped him of late. A couple of unforced errors in Australia were easily forgettable, but his collision with Felipe Massa in Spain was hugely uncharacteristic.

Vandoorne failed to notice the Williams making a move on the inside at Turn 1, meaning that he turned into Massa, damaging his own right front suspension and bringing his race to an abrupt end. A clumsy, uncharacteristic and above all costly error.

Vandoorne was not about to clinch his first points of 2017 in Spain, but the retrospective three place grid penalty will be served at Monaco, where overtaking opportunities are at a premium.

To compound the frustration, Monaco provides McLaren with their best chance of breaking into the points this season, given the chassis dominated nature of the venue.

McLaren changed the energy store and control electronics on the car in Barcelona, taking a ten-place grid penalty there, with the hope of suffering no such pain at the Principality. Vandoorne’s accident is, therefore, all the more painful.

Monaco will be a critical weekend for the 25-year-old. He will be expected to lead the charge in Alonso’s absence and cannot afford to be beaten in qualifying by McLaren stand-in Jenson Button. Vandoorne knows Monaco well having raced there in both Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2 machinery and has a wealth of experience in 2017 F1 machinery versus Button.

Facing Alonso is a huge challenge. Few would expect Vandoorne to beat the Spaniard over the course of the season, but the Belgian needs to reverse his fortunes and reduce the deficit to his team-mate sooner rather than later. If not, he seriously risks tarnishing his reputation as one of the sport’s rising stars.