F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Vandoorne: hard to predict McLaren form in 2017

McLaren's new full-time driver Stoffel Vandoorne says that all the new technical rules mean that it's still hard to tell how the team will fare in the forthcoming 2017 Formula One world championship battle.

"It is so difficult for me to know where we will be in terms of performance, and I think for everybody it is a little bit the same – they don't know exactly where we will be, the Belgian driver told Motorsport.com this week.

"Of course we expect the top teams to fight for the top positions and it will always be like that. But we don't know in which order yet.

"With new regulations, every week you come in there are new things, and new things we learn about," he explained. "There has been progress over the past weeks and over Christmas, there has been very good progress.

"But the thing is, where do you put that compared to the other teams?" he said. "We don't know, and that is something we will have to wait until we finally get on track."

The 24-year-old said that this meant he could just concentrate on his own performance during his rookie season, as he steps into the seat formerly taken by Jenson Button.

"I haven't set any real expectations so far," he insisted. "I am just focusing on what I have always done – making sure I don't make any mistakes, making sure I am up to date with all the processes and procedures.

"The most important thing is that I come to Barcelona testing and we can start focusing on performance and not having to go through all the driver bits that I should learn."

GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

24 mins ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

1 hour ago

Ferrari and Mercedes admit to plank changes based on FIA’s TD

Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…

2 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Hamilton continues on top in second practice

Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top of the timesheets for the second time in Las…

3 hours ago

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas,…

3 hours ago

Leclerc confident Ferrari ‘has a shot’ at F1 Constructors’ title

Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari has a genuine “shot” at beating rival McLaren to Formula…

4 hours ago