Continuing his improved form from Silverstone, McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver, Stoffel Vandoorne had another strong showing in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, making it into Q3 for the third time this year.
Similarly to team-mate, Fernando Alonso, Vandoorne had been consistently performing well in the early stages of the weekend, especially in Free Practice 3, where he finished an impressive sixth fastest. Therefore, there was an expectation that both cars would make it into the final part of qualifying. The Belgian was narrowly out-qualified by Alonso, but both drivers had a strong session.
“We pretty much got everything out of the car today. We’d been looking strong all weekend, so it was good to get both cars in Q3 and to carry our pace through into qualifying.”
“My car felt quite strong – it felt pretty good in the corners. I think we maximised the package we had today.”
Vandoorne was on the cusp of scoring his first points of the season at the last race, but a slow pit stop compromised his position and he narrowly missed out to Williams Martini Racing driver, Felipe Massa. However, he feels confident that this weekend will bring more points for the team, who currently sit at the bottom of the Constructor’s Championship with just two points won by Alonso at Baku.
“The race tomorrow is the most important thing: I hope we can get both cars into the points. Our pace has been inside the top 10 all the time so we’re looking strong.”
