Vandoorne thwarted by pressure problems in Q1

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While his team mate Fernando Alonso enjoyed a trouble-free time of it in qualifying on Saturday, the same could not be said for McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne.

The Belgian driver suffered fuel pressure problems on the MCL32 that robbed him of the chance to set a representative lap time in Q1. As a result he failed to join Alonso in the second round, and will start from 18th on the grid.

“I had a fuel pressure issue in Q1 and had to abort my first two runs as the engine was running low on power," Vandoorne explained afterwards.

"That was a shame, because after FP3 everything was heading in the right direction and I was feeling confident.

Hamilton takes pole for the 2017 Australian Grand Prix

"But it’s always difficult when you only get one opportunity to set a time because you can’t take risks and have to make it really count," he added.

“Still, we’ve made some good steps forward this weekend: Fernando and I both feel more comfortable in the car, and that confidence means we’re able to push it a little bit more.

“Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do, but we can take some positives from the potential we’ve shown so far this weekend, and I think we can have a good race tomorrow.”

Boullier praises 'cool' Vandoorne

"[Stoffel] kept his cool to post a very good lap in extremely frustrating and stressful circumstances," McLaren racing director Eric Boullier commented.

"He’ll start tomorrow’s race from P18. But, like Fernando’s, his lap was a lot better than that," he added.

"Stoffel handled the pressure of qualifying extremely well," agreed Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa. "Despite having issues throughout the session.

"We are very lucky to have two such talented drivers in our team."

GALLERY: all the pics from Saturday's action

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.