McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier hailed Stoffel Vandoorne’s performance during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, after the Belgian took seventh place.
Vandoorne, off the back of his best Formula 1 finish in Singapore, made it through to Q3 and set the seventh-best time, as he captured the highest grid spot of his career.
Fernando Alonso, running with the updated package, rounded out the top 10 in the sister McLaren.
“Both drivers have worked very well together to develop and refine our car package across the weekend, and today’s qualifying result really justifies their efforts,” said Boullier.
“Stoffel has driven superbly all weekend, and absolutely nailed it in all three qualifying sessions, achieving his best F1 qualifying position so far.
“Fernando wasn’t particularly happy with his final lap, but he still has a very good opportunity for tomorrow."
Vandoorne reckons seventh place was the maximum possible for McLaren at Sepang, but is wary that he faces a challenge to hold onto the position in race trim.
“We weren’t really expecting to be so high up the grid,” said Vandoorne, who wound up just 0.104s behind Force India’s Esteban Ocon.
“We’d hoped to get into Q3, but fighting for seventh was a pleasant surprise.
“In fact, my whole qualifying session went really well. I didn’t make any mistakes and pulled every sector on every lap.
“To qualify seventh on a circuit like this is probably about as good as it gets for us, so I’m very happy with my performance.
“We generally tend to be better over a single lap than across a race stint, so I think tomorrow will be tougher for us, but at least we’re in a position to race.”
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