McLaren-Honda driver Stoffel Vandoorne is hopeful that his experience at the Sakhir Circuit will be beneficial in Bahrain this weekend, though remains wary of the progress still required by the team.
Vandoorne entered the opening two rounds in Australia and China without prior track experience at the venues, though the 25-year-old has raced in Bahrain in both GP2 and Formula 1.
Vandoorne won three races from six starts at Sakhir in GP2, and added a further two podium finishes, while last year he made his Formula 1 debut for McLaren, in place of Fernando Alonso, after the Spaniard’s high-speed crash in Australia.
Vandoorne out-qualified then team-mate Jenson Button and went on to score a point by finishing in 10th position.
“I have lots of good memories from the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in 2016,” he said.
“We’re a year on now, I’m a full-time McLaren-Honda driver, and I’ve already gained a lot more experience in the past 12 months, so of course my aim is to work hard and improve every time I arrive at a grand prix.
“The most important thing for me is mileage, and the weather will surely be better in Bahrain than it was in Shanghai, so I’m hoping to do as many laps as possible over the weekend.
“It helps that I know this track well and I won there twice in 2015 in GP2, so I’m already comfortable with the layout and therefore it’s a case of building on what I already know.
“We were always expecting a difficult weekend in China, and I don’t know if it will get a lot better in Bahrain – it’s only one week later and there’s obviously a limit to how many changes we can apply in that time, but we’ll do our best as usual.
“The car is definitely improving and both Fernando and I feel confident and competitive, especially in the corners, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s possible at this track.”
