Gil de Ferran felt the performance of the McLaren F1 Team during the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday was ‘very positive’, however it was disappointing to see Stoffel Vandoorne retire from the race having climbed his way from fifteenth on the grid into ninth.
Vandoorne was not far behind team-mate Fernando Alonso when his gearbox failed on him heading down the start/finish straight, with the Belgian being forced to pull off the track whilst on course to score his first points since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April.
Alonso had no such issues and brought home four World Championship points for the team with eighth place, and McLaren Sporting Director de Ferran was delighted with the Spaniard’s result on his thirty-seventh birthday.
“Today was a very positive day for us,” said de Ferran. “We had good pace on both cars and came very close to a double-points finish.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed for Stoffel, who was driving very well and had to retire due to a gearbox failure. Fernando had his typical perfect drive, with the right blend of aggression and pace and tyre management. Although we’re supposed to give him a present on his birthday, he gave us yet another one in the form of points!”
De Ferran felt the strategy calls from the pit wall were perfect in Hungary as both Alonso and Vandoorne were able to jump a lot of drivers by delaying their stops.
“I want to congratulate our strategy team and pit-crew for executing the race to perfection, and thank everyone for the extremely hard work they’ve put in over this long and busy stretch of races,” said de Ferran.
“I wish everyone a nice break and I can’t wait for the season to restart when we can hopefully keep stepping forward.”
