Stoffel Vandoorne says his performance at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix proved his ability, in the wake of a difficult string of events.
Vandoorne failed to score a point since Azerbaijan and was mired towards the rear of the field in Britain and Germany amid a mysterious loss of downforce with his MCL33.
McLaren swapped Vandoorne’s chassis for the event at the Hungaroring and he immediately expressed positivity at the development, though dropped out in Q1 for the fourth straight event.
Vandoorne made gains at the start and profited from extending his first stint on Soft tyres to emerge in ninth place, narrowly behind team-mate Fernando Alonso.
But Vandoorne’s hopes of ending his points drought were dashed by a suspected gearbox failure and he was forced to retire from the race.
“It was a really disappointing race for me,” he said.
“We had a superb start, after we started a bit further down the grid than we wanted, and gained a few places on the opening lap.
“We had really good tyre management in the opening stint and strong pace when it counted, a good pit-stop and we managed to jump a lot of cars during the pit window.
“It was a great strategy from the team to come out in the points with both cars and we were feeling comfortable, so it was just about bringing the car home.
“It’s disappointing to finish like that but I think as a team we did everything right.
“We got ourselves as high as we could and it’s a shame not to finish the first part of the season with a few more points.
“On a personal note, I felt good at the weekend. I think we’ve shown that the pace was back to where it had been before, with a more ‘normal’ feeling, and I can be happy with my performance.”
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