Vandoorne admits to poor qualifying after hitting the wall FOUR times

Stoffel Vandoorne admitted he was responsible for another poor qualifying result in the McLaren with the Belgian driver admitting to hitting the wall at least four times during qualifying. He only managed 18th place whilst his teammate Fernando Alonso finished an impressive 11th.

After qualifying, Vandoorne told media he was lucky to have finished the session after coming close to crashing out around the tight street circuit of Singapore.

“My last run on the new tyres was extremely messy from my side – I touched the wall about four times I think,” Vandoorne said.

“We should definitely have been in Q2 as that was when the track was at its best. It’s a shame because the pace was there to progress. I think the car is okay so that’s good.

“I tried to squeeze everything out of the car. When you do a bit too much and you overheat the tyres, the lap-time doesn’t come towards you. It’s all about qualifying here.”

He did however reveal he was optimistic of a positive result in the race, relying on strategy and great car performance to work his way through the field around the Marina Bay circuit.

“I think our race pace is usually a bit better than qualifying – we’ve known that since the start of the year – but around here it’s very difficult to overtake, so it’ll have to be about a good strategy,” he said.

“The key will be to see what the runners on Hypersofts can do, how long they can make them last. At least we have free tyre choice so hopefully we can gamble a little bit.

“Anything can happen here in Singapore. There’s 100 per cent chance of a Safety Car so there’ll probably be one at some point.”