Stoffel Vandoorne has conceded that for his McLaren F1 Team to score points at the 2018 French Grand Prix, they would have needed “a fair bit of luck” as the team continue to struggle with the pace of their car.
Vandoorne had qualified a dismal eighteenth, just two places shy of his Le Mans winning team-mate Fernando Alonso. While the Spaniard spent much of the race at the rear of the field, Vandoorne was at least able to pass a couple of cars towards the end of the race to finish twelfth.
“For us to finish in the points would have required a fair bit of luck,” said Vandoorne. “We knew that, if no other cars got into trouble, points would be tough for us – and so it proved to be.
“Our pace today was definitely better than it was in qualifying yesterday. Once we can improve our Saturday pace, it should help push us further up the order in the races too.
“I had a decent race, I overtook Ericsson and Fernando at the end, so it was a positive afternoon for me. But we didn’t get any points for the team, which is unfortunate.”
As McLaren seem to slip down the competitive order, Vandoorne was unable to pin-point the reason for a lack of pace with the team’s MCL33.
“There’s nothing particularly wrong with the balance of our car, it’s just that our pace is not strong enough.”
