Vandoorne determined to 'give everything' in final outings

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Stoffel Vandoorne is heading into this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix for the final time as a McLaren driver.

It was announced after the Italian Grand Prix that the Belgian driver was leaving the team at the end of 2018. It's not yet known where he will be next season.

While the 26-year-old is clearly disappointed to be moving on, he's focussed on finishing off his tenure at Woking in the best way possible.

"I’m very much looking to the future since I confirmed I won’t be racing for McLaren next season," he said this week.

"I’m also 100 per cent determined to give everything for the remaining Grands Prix this season.

"Both the team and I are pushing very hard to get the best results we can with what we have, and it’s certainly not over yet," he added.

Norris: Vandoorne thrown in 'at the deepest end possible'

Last year saw Vandoorne finish well into the points, and a similar result would be a good way to give him a boost going into the final races of 2018.

"Racing at Singapore was an incredible experience last year and I’m really looking forward to doing it again.

"It was there and in Malaysia that I scored my best result yet in Formula 1, in seventh place.

"It’s a track that definitely suits the strengths of our package more than others. I’m hopeful of a more positive weekend where we can show improved pace and take the fight to our competitors.

"Going through the whole weekend on European time is one of the coolest things about this race," he added. "It’s a totally unique experience that we don’t get anywhere else we travel to on the calendar."

Next year Vandoorne's seat will be taken by the team's current official test and reserve driver Lando Norris.

However it's probably just as well for Vandoorne that his successor won't be around the Singapore paddock this weekend.

"Although we confirmed our full driver line-up last week, we won’t have Lando with us in Singapore since he’ll be conducting valuable race simulation with the team back at the factory," explained sporting director Gil de Ferran.

"Stoffel [and the race team] will all be working hard to find as much performance as possible this weekend with the aim of bringing home some valuable points.”

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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.