For Stoffel Vandoorne, the opening day of practice for the Monaco Grand Prix has been a reasonable good day’s running.
The McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver finished Free Practice 1 in twelfth, with a fastest lap time of 1:14.813s. This performance saw him finish two places ahead of team-mate for the weekend Jenson Button. Vandoorne continued this pace into Free Practice 2 as he improved his fastest lap time to 1:13.946s and finished in eleventh, just behind Valtteri Bottas who completed the top ten.
With the midfield being extremely tight at the end of the first day of practice, Vandoorne confirms McLaren have to maximise every single opportunity that comes their way this weekend.
“It’s been a reasonably good day’s running,” said Vandoorne. “If you look at today’s lap-times, you can see how extremely tight it is in the midfield – and that’s exactly where we are.
“That means we really need to maximise every single opportunity that comes our way this weekend so we can make out every last bit of performance from the car. An extra tenth or two could make a huge difference in Saturday’s qualifying. I’m feeling pretty comfortable in the car.
“I think we’ll make some small adjustments ahead of FP3, and those should hopefully help us take another slight step forward. The most important thing around here is to build up throughout the weekend, and to be fully prepared for qualifying. I think we can be in good shape for that. There’s still more to come from us this weekend.”
