Vandoorne banking on reliability and strategy to score in Barcelona

©McLaren

As usual, McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne will race hard in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, but points will only come if good reliability and optimal strategy are ensured.

Like his colleagues, the Belgian returns to a familiar venue, the site of Formula 1's pre-season testing.

Vandoorne insists however that the advantages of racing at the Circuit de Catalunya in terms of pre-season experience will be minimized by the issues that impacted McLaren during the winter testing.

"Heading back to European races always feels very satisfyingly familiar, especially in Barcelona," says the 26-year-old, now in his second full season with the Woking-based outfit.

"We all know the track very well and spend a lot of time there – in fact, it doesn’t feel that long ago that we were there during pre-season testing!

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"Thankfully, the weather should be a little bit more reliable this time around.

"Although we do a lot of testing there and we have a lot of data about the circuit, we weren’t able to do a lot of representative running pre-season due to the weather conditions and the issues we had."

Vandoorne thoroughly prepared for the fifth round of the world championship by putting in some long hours at the McLaren team's base.

"I’ve spent time back at the factory in the simulator since Baku, so the key will be to translate that information to the track and get a read on our package as soon as possible on Friday.

"That package will include a few new components that we’ll be working hard to learn about and evaluate on Friday.

"There’ll be a lot to assess and for sure other teams will be planning the same thing, so as always we’ll need to race hard, ensure good reliability, and optimise our strategy to be able to come home with more points."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.