Stoffel Vandoorne has claimed that qualifying in 11th place for the Japanese Grand Prix was an ‘ideal’ result looking ahead to the race.
Vandoorne missed out on 10th place in Q2 by a slender 0.029 seconds – with team-mate Fernando Alonso ironically filling the final spot in Q3.
However, with Alonso demoted to the back row of the grid courtesy of a 35-place grid penalty, Vandoorne will start from within the top 10. Having not made it into the final part of qualifying, he will also have the benefit of fresh tyres on which to start the race.
“I think that in the end, to not go to Q3 is pretty much an ideal scenario,” Vandoorne stated. “We know that Fernando [Alonso] has the grid penalty. We will start inside the top ten with a fresh set of tyres which is good.
“We are in a position where we can race from. Hopefully we will take some points.”
Vandoorne enters the Japanese GP weekend having secured two consecutive career best seventh place finishes at Singapore and Malaysia.
Strategy will be the key to McLaren making progress tomorrow, with Suzuka being a notoriously difficult circuit upon which to craft an overtake, combined with the power deficiencies of the Honda power unit.
“It looks like it will not be straight-forward between one or two stops. Hopefully that can play to our advantage.
“We have some good cars ahead of us. If there is any mayhem happening, we have to make sure that we are in a position to benefit.”
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