---
title: "Vandoorne to remain with McLaren for 2018"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/08/23/vandoorne-remain-mclaren-2018/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Josh Suttill"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2017-08-23T10:23:10Z"
modified: "2017-08-23T10:27:02Z"
---

# Vandoorne to remain with McLaren for 2018

McLaren has announced Stoffel Vandoorne will continue to race for the team for the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Vandoorne made his debut for the team at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, replacing the injured Fernando Alonso.

The 25-year-old scored a point in that race and earned a full-time seat for 2017 driving alongside the Spaniard.

The Belgian’s first full season has been plagued with reliability issues and he’s often struggled to match Alonso on both Saturday and Sunday.

However, Vandoorne picked up his first point of 2017 in the final race before the summer break in Hungary and out-qualified Alonso for the first time at Silverstone.

“I’m delighted that the team has now formally announced that I will continue to race for them next year,” he said.

“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.”

Executive director Zak Brown believes Vandoorne will be a future champion in the sport.

“I regard Stoffel as a super talent – a future Formula 1 world champion in fact – and that’s why I’ve always been adamant that he should race for us on a multi-year basis,” Brown said.

The future of Vandoorne’s current team-mate Fernando Alonso is still uncertain as well as which engines the team will run in 2018.