McLaren Honda confirmed this evening that Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne will continue to race for the team in 2018 as originally planned.
When the Woking based squad announced at the end of 2016 that Stoffel would be racing for them in 2017, they hinted that the plan was that he'd race for them for a number of years, even though many thought it would only be a one year deal while Jenson Button took a well-deserved rest.
However, the team has now confirmed that the original plan hasn't changed, despite a few rookie errors in the first half of the season.
“Like all rookies, he's had to learn a lot in the first half of his first Formula 1 season, but we have great confidence in him, and he's getting better and better all the time. His team-mate is a tough opponent – that's an understatement in fact, because he's arguably the best driver in the sport today – but Stoffel's robust talent and fierce ambition make us sure that he'll achieve great successes with us in the future,” Eric Boullier said.
Stoffel Vandoorne is delighted to have the news confirmed, especially now as he prepares to race in front of his home fans this coming weekend…
“I'm delighted that the team has now formally announced that I will continue to race for them next year, because I'll be able to approach the second half of my rookie season with total focus on the job in hand: namely getting the very most I can out of my car, my engineers, and everything and everyone around me,” he said.
“I've already learned such a huge amount in the first half of my first season in Formula 1 - from my engineers, from my mechanics, from Eric [Boullier], from Zak [Brown] and from Jonathan [Neale], and also from Fernando [Alonso], who is a brilliant driver and also an excellent team-mate.
“Last but not least, I want to say thank you to McLaren's partners and fans for their loyalty and enthusiasm – they are the best in the business – and also to McLaren's Executive Committee Principals, [Shaikh] Mohammed and Mansour [Ojjeh], who continue to put their faith in me.”
