Stoffel Vandoorne lamented a dismal conclusion to a miserable weekend on home soil as he finished as the final classified runner at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Vandoorne, under pressure to retain his seat, finished last in each practice session, due to a lack of pace and mechanical setbacks, having also suffered a high-speed spin after a misunderstanding with Valtteri Bottas.
Vandoorne started from the rear of the field in the wake of a strategic engine change and pitted behind the Safety Car to undertake a Medium/Supersoft approach.
But the strategy failed to pay off and he drifted away from the field, ultimately coming across the line in 15th and last place.
“We tried to do something different with the tyre strategy and pit behind the Safety Car, and unfortunately that didn’t really pay off,” said Vandoorne.
“I think the race, in general, was quite boring for everyone, there wasn’t much overtaking and for us, there were no miracles.
“Whatever we did there was nothing much we could get out of it. Whether pitting the second time was the right thing to do is hard to tell, but it didn’t make much difference.
“We more or less confirmed our pace anyway and we aren’t very quick at all.
“The only chance we had for a good result was to try something completely different and it didn’t work, but I don’t think we lost anything by doing it.”
Vandoorne was the only McLaren driver to reach the chequered flag after Fernando Alonso was eliminated in the opening lap pile-up.
Vandoorne will step aside in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix for reserve driver Lando Norris.
