Under pressure to start producing results, Stoffel Vandoorne claims McLaren’s focus on teammate Fernando Alonso cost him a potential points result at the Monaco GP.
The Belgian was racing with Nico Hulkenberg in the first stint of Sunday’s race but would be refused the opportunity to pit earlier than his Spanish partner and when he did, suffered from a malfunction of the pit-lights system that informs a driver when to leave.
That would drop him down the order to 17th before eventually only managing 14th and with Alonso later retiring it rounded off a very bad weekend for the British team at a race they expected to be their strongest.
“I think we should have pitted five laps earlier,” Vandoorne claimed. “Fernando came just ahead and we just pitted that lap when the damage was done already. Disappointing.
“We were on the same strategy as Nico and we should have finished right behind or even in front of him.
“We lost a lot of time at the pitstop and lost a lot of track position. We had some pace in the end on the Supersoft tyres. That pace was good but Monaco is Monaco, we know overtaking is so hard around here.”
On the problematic pit-stop, he added: “I don’t know what happened but the green light just wasn’t coming. We lost a few seconds there.”
As the speculation over his future continues, given he has not beaten Alonso in a qualifying session for 11 races, the former GP2 and Super Formula champion insisted he feels his future is with McLaren.
“I don’t think about that,” he was quoted by F1i.com. “I focus on my own performance, which I think is more important. I just want to get everything out of my car.
“I have a long agreement with McLaren, so I’m not worried about that. An F1 contract remains an F1 contract, even if you still have to perform.
“But the team has complete trust in me. I’m not worried at all. I’m especially ready for the day when I can really race with a competitive car.”
