Vandoorne: "Fighting for seventh was a pleasant surprise"

  • Published on 30 Sep 2017 14:28
  • comments 2
  • By: Sam Gale

Stoffel Vandoorne has said he was pleasantly surprised by the pace he showed in today's qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver outqualifying teammate Fernando Alonso and putting his career-bestr best seventh on the grid, only beaten by Esteban Ocon of the midfield runners. His performance was made even more impressive by the fact that he was running without the upgraded floor that teammate Fernando Alonso was running.

At a track where Alonso claimed his first ever pole position and has won three times for three different teams, to outqualify the Spaniard in his first F1 outing at Sepang is a mighty achievement for the 2015 GP2 champion.

Vandoorne said this on his performance today:  "We weren’t really expecting to be so high up the grid. We’d hoped to get into Q3, but fighting for seventh was a pleasant surprise, in fact, my whole qualifying session went really well. I didn’t make any mistakes and pulled every sector on every lap.

"To qualify seventh on a circuit like this is probably about as good as it gets for us, so I’m very happy with my performance. We generally tend to be better over a single lap than across a race stint, so I think tomorrow will be tougher for us, but at least we’re in a position to race.

"And nobody really has any race preparation runs under their belts [due to yesterday’s FP2 red flag], so hopefully we can go into the race a little bit more prepared than the others and benefit from that. Hopefully we can make a race of it tomorrow."

 

Sam Gale

Replies (2)

Login to reply
  • He did a good job today.

    • + 0
    • Sep 30 2017 - 15:08
  • Savio

    Posts: 145

    Yes, Vandoorne was impressive..

    • + 0
    • Sep 30 2017 - 21:49

BE Grand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

BEGrand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

World Championship standings 2024

Show full world champion standings

Test calendar

See full test schedule

Related news

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Bahrain
29 - Mar 2
Bahrain
7 - Mar 9
Saudi Arabia
22 - Mar 24
Australia
5 - Apr 7
Japan
19 - Apr 21
China
3 - May 5
United States of America
17 - May 19
Italy
24 - May 26
Monaco
7 - Jun 9
Canada
21 - Jun 23
Spain
28 - Jun 30
Austria
5 - Jul 7
United Kingdom
19 - Jul 21
Hungary
26 - Jul 28
Belgium
23 - Aug 25
Netherlands
30 - Sep 1
Italy
13 - Sep 15
Azerbaijan
20 - Sep 22
Singapore
18 - Oct 20
United States of America
25 - Oct 27
Mexico
1 - Nov 3
Brazil
22 - Nov 24
United States of America
29 - Dec 1
Qatar
6 - Dec 8
United Arab Emirates
See full schedule

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
29 - Mar 2
7 - Mar 9
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
22 - Mar 24
Australia Albert Park
5 - Apr 7
19 - Apr 21
3 - May 5
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
17 - May 19
24 - May 26
Monaco Monte Carlo
7 - Jun 9
21 - Jun 23
28 - Jun 30
Austria Red Bull Ring
5 - Jul 7
United Kingdom Silverstone
19 - Jul 21
Hungary Hungaroring
26 - Jul 28
23 - Aug 25
Netherlands Circuit Zandvoort
30 - Sep 1
Italy Monza
13 - Sep 15
Azerbaijan Baku City Circuit
20 - Sep 22
18 - Oct 20
United States of America Circuit of the Americas
25 - Oct 27
1 - Nov 3
Brazil Interlagos
22 - Nov 24
United States of America Las Vegas Street Circuit
29 - Dec 1
6 - Dec 8
United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit
See full schedule

Driver profile

  • Team Aston Martin
  • Points 564
  • Podiums 9
  • Grand Prix 163
  • Country ES
  • Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (43)
  • Place of b. Oviedo, ES
  • Weight 68 kg
  • Length 1.71 m
Show full profile
show sidebar