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Stoffel Vandoorne was unable to follow his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso out of the first session of Bahrain qualifying, and will line up 17th on the grid for his first race at the circuit since his F1 debut there a year ago.
"Everything was more or less OK with my laps. I struggled a little bit with the brakes on the second run and had a couple of lock-ups, so I was lacking a little bit of confidence. But I think the lap was more or less the maximum possible – I don’t think there was much more left in the car.
"Our results are more or less the same as they have been during the past couple of races, so I don’t think we expected anything different here this weekend. We know once we get to qualifying that the others can turn up their engines and have a little bit more pace in their pockets, so we just have to drive the perfect lap and see where we end up."
The Belgian had to abort his first effort at a timed lap on a new set of tyres, and he needed a good time as the session was by then drawing to a close. He notched up a 1:32.558 to slot him into P12, but then faced a second run just as Alonso also returned to the track. Vandoorne was stuck in traffic, and also complained of poor brakes.
Despite his best attempts to warm them during his final laps, he dropped to 17th position as the chequered flag fell and the cars around him improved their times, having posted a slightly faster time of 1:32.313 after eight laps in the twilight. Vandoorne's position leaves him with much to do tomorrow, and he will be hoping that events conspire to help him move up the order in the race.
"We’re not setting ourselves any targets for tomorrow. We just need to stay out of trouble, do a good job, and hopefully we’ll have a good result – we’ll wait and see. The race will be tricky and there are difficult conditions out there, a tough race for everyone and a long race, but hopefully we can benefit from that and make a difference."
Mason Hawker
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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