Stoffel Vandoorne finished a disappointing fourteenth in the Canadian Grand Prix, in between the two Sauber F1 Team drivers, but the Belgian knew the race was going to be a difficult one even before the lights went out at the start.
With the McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team struggling with both the pace of the car and with fuel efficiency, Vandoorne was expecting to be towards the rear of the field, and despite profiting from early chaos to run inside the top ten, he could not stay then and ultimately fell well out of contention for points.
Vandoorne was unable to match the pace of team-mate Fernando Alonso once more, with the Spaniard being able to keep his car inside the top ten for much of the afternoon before retiring, but the Belgian is hoping that upgrades come soon to the engine that will enable them to be fighting for points.
“It was a difficult race. I think we more or less knew that before the start,” said Vandoorne. “We found it tough on the straights, and also the amount of fuel saving we had to do today really hurt us. The closing speed of the other cars was really impressive, so we were a bit of a sitting duck. In the end, we made it to the finish, but it’s not the result we were hoping for.
“It’s incredibly difficult to stay with the group ahead, and when we can stay with the group we are vulnerable and don’t have the power to defend, so we have to invent some tricks to keep the other cars behind, and then it all starts to become very challenging.
“There’s no point moaning about it – I’m just trying to get on with my job – but I just hope there will be improvements soon so we can actually start racing with the others.”
