Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur is not considering offering Stoffel Vandoorne a seat in 2019, should he get the axe at McLaren.
The Belgian has struggled to make an impact in season and a half he has had alongside Fernando Alonso and as a result, has put him under pressure with junior driver Lando Norris and both Force India drivers reportedly being considered.
If he is dropped, it was though Vasseur, who was team boss at ART when Stoffel won the GP2 championship in 2015 and highly rates him, could make an attempt to offer the 26-year-old an F1 lifeline.
“He’s not in the discussions,” the Frenchman told Motorsport.com.
“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.”
Also Read:
The situation at Sauber does make accommodating tricky with one seat reserved for a Ferrari junior and Marcus Ericsson linked to owners Longbow Finance as well as impressing his current boss.
“He’s doing a good job,” Vasseur said. “He was one-hundredth behind Charles in qualifying with an engine issue.
“In the race, he had a strong pace from the beginning, the strategy was the opposite to the guy in front of us. Marcus did well.
“The best way to keep the position and the place for every single driver in the paddock is to do a good job, and he’s doing it.”
