Stoffel Vandoorne has hit back at McLaren for a raft of reliability issues which hindered his progress during practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The former GP2 champion is under increasing pressure to perform if he wants to remain in his seat for next season and at Spa-Francorchamps, the British team made their intentions clearer by offering junior driver Lando Norris a drive in Practice 1.
It has already been confirmed the current Formula 2 driver will also drive next Friday at Monza as his evaluation continues, however, Vandoorne insists he is not able to offer a true representation of his ability.
“Obviously they want to see how we compare but I think first of all the team should give a car that is able to run on track before we can really compare,” he told reporters.
“Problems in FP1 with the brakes at the start and then an engine related issue later. We didn’t really manage to get any proper laps in.
“In FP2 as well we started off with some more problems. We more or less had one normal run. It didn’t really feel like I’ve been working today.”
At the last race in Hungary, the Belgian was running close behind Alonso in the points before a gearbox problem forced him to retire from the race and it is not lost on Stoffel how his side of the garage seems to be attracting the issues.
“I’ve always been very positive and the past few races have been very difficult, but now the problems are starting to fall on my side a lot,” the 26-year-old said.
“It’s a bit difficult to understand why it’s always happening to me. I try to be optimistic but every time I get in the car there’s a problem again.
“I just want to have a normal day without problems and then things will go a lot better. I really feel the support of the people here. It hurts not to be able to give them a good result.”
In qualifying, Vandoorne, who was involved in an incident with Valtteri Bottas during final practice, finished slowest overall.
