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Stoffel Vandoorne's manager Allessandro Alunni Bravi says that he is confident Vandoorne will have a seat in Formula 1 next season. The 26-year-old confirmed on Monday he will be leaving McLaren at the end of the end of the current season to be replaced by Lando Norris.
Vandoorne has struggled during his two full seasons with McLaren. The Belgian has out-qualified teammate Fernando Alonso just three times, and has picked up a best result of P7 (Singapore & Malaysia, 2017). And Bravi believes that Vandoorne will be much more than a reserve driver in 2019.
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"I'm calm and confident about his future as a race driver rather than a reserve driver. That's our priority. Stoffel is an excellent driver with two years of experience in a struggling team. He has also learned a lot from Fernando Alonso and was one of his best teammates."
Vandoorne has been linked with a move to Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team. He was also in the running for a seat at Sauber before its team principal Frederic Vasseur squashed the rumours, despite Vasseur knowing Vandoorne well from their GP2 success together.
"He's not in the discussions," he said. "Honestly we are in the middle of the season. And even if everybody is a bit upset and a bit nervous on the drivers' market, if you compare with previous years, I think everybody is much earlier. So we stay calm."
Dear Friends, I will be leaving McLaren at the end of this season. The past 2 seasons we didn’t achieve the succes we’d hoped, but I want to thank everyone for the opportunities they gave… https://t.co/UyYFLqiNEH
— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) September 3, 2018
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Replies (4)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Glad to see that this time the separation has been much more civilized and respectful. I remember how it went down with Perez and Magnussen. Ron Dennis ensured it was done in the most awful and painful way. I'm confident we haven't seen the last of Vandoorne in Formula 1. I'd actually like to see him stay at McLaren as a test/reserve driver because I am still unsure about both Sainz and Norris. Both promising but unproven superstars.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Its not as bad as KMag or Perez, but better isnt good. I still feel them claiming they still had faith in Stoff up until the ditch was dug wasnt all that pretty.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@calle Was there a pretty way to let him go? I think that doing it early in the season, with plenty of notice, offering to help place him... that's about all they can do. Nasty doing it last minute, finding out through the news with everyone else, offering no support for next steps, and being passive aggressive during the parting words... pretty much the way Helmut has dismissed every single Toro Rosso driver that didn't make it to Red Bull...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
There is ugly and uglier. In this case, I think it woulda been far better had they not told us (and him) over and over that they still had faith in him. It just made this all the more bitter IMO. It is of course nice of them to help him get a team, but thats them serving themselves in a sense. He is after all still under their protection, so they kinda have to. It isnt the worst ditch they've ever done (see KMag for reference, a move I sorta find even worse then any of RB's ditches, and they are the masters of that shit).