Stoffel Vandoorne ran as high as seventh during the Monaco Grand Prix, but found his race ending after hitting the barriers on the restart following the safety car period as he struggled to get heat into his Supersoft tyres.
The McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver had Sergio Perez on his inside as the Mexican had new tyres on his Sahara Force India F1 Team machine, which left Vandoorne vulnerable on the restart, and with tyres and brakes not up to the optimum temperature, he was unable to avoid the St Devote barriers.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on his first points of the season, Vandoorne believes the team made some good steps during the weekend in Monaco, and he remains optimistic good results are just around the corner.
“It’s a shame we haven’t come away with any points this weekend,” said Vandoorne. “I think we’d all hoped to get a little bit more out of the weekend.
“Towards the end of the race, I knew it would be difficult at the restart. It’s always difficult to heat up the Supersofts, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to cover Sergio [Perez] and Felipe [Massa], who’d switched to the Option behind the Safety Car. That wasn’t an option for us – when you’re in the top 10, you’ve got to keep your position. It was hard to get the tyres and brakes up to temperature, and I just had nowhere to go at Turn One, unfortunately.
“So, this isn’t the result we wanted this weekend, but there are still positives to take away from Monaco: we may still be lacking overall performance, but we’ve made some useful steps forward this weekend.
“There’s still a lot of work to do – but I remain optimistic.”
