Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, Circuit de Catalunya, 2018

Vandoorne seeking more consistent car – Brown

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says Stoffel Vandoorne is doing a good job despite not having beaten his team mate in qualifying or a race so far this year.

What they say

Consistency is the key area Vandooren and McLaren are concentrating on, says Brown:

Stoffel’s doing really well. His race pace is very good. He’s up against a pretty tough team mate. I think he feels very comfortable. We’re trying to get the car a bit more consistent for his liking, and he’s doing well.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

The Spanish Grand Prix circuit owners has denied using the Catalan anthem as a ‘political message’ and said there was nothing new about it being played before Sunday’s race. But did they give greater emphasis to it than usual?

The issue with the anthems, regardless of what both the federation and the circuit say, is that the Spanish anthem played was a shortened version whereas the Catalonian anthem was the full length version (twice as long as the Spanish). It’s also the only country where not only the national anthem, but also a regional anthem is played, although it’s been this way since the very beginning.

Sainz, when asked, reportedly said that all drivers were saying they had to get into the cars, since they usually leave 13-14 minutes before the race start and in Barcelona they left with 11 minutes to go, so everyone was in a bit of a hurry.
Jaime Gomez (@Warheart)

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  • 15 years ago today Michael Schumacher won the Austrian Grand Prix despite a brief fire during a refuelling stop

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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39 comments on “Vandoorne seeking more consistent car – Brown”

  1. Regarding the use of two mounting points for a wing mirror, wouldn’t the use of two mounting points reduce the blurring induced by the mirrors vibrating, thus giving the driver a better view of what’s happening behind them?

    1. This had to be enforced because this was the technicality RB used to ban Ferraris halo wing. Halo mounted wings are still permitted.

    2. Maybe the Ferrari Halo mounting team should talk to the Ferrari chassis mounting team. The latter one was able to do it with a single mounting ;)
      @drycrust

    3. @drycrust That’s the argument I’d make if I worked for Ferrari, and refute if I worked for the FIA…

    4. Not really. The teams still want to make the mountings as light as possible regardless of how many mountings there looks like to be. Also iirc there are no bending tests for mirrors so the teams may even want to make the mirrors move if it helps with aerodynamics. The first draft of the mirror rules seems like to be a placeholder though so better rules should be in for 2019.

  2. Hakkinen said exactly what I think about Magnussen. And that “Norris diary” makes me wonder if Sette Camara also had access to McLaren sim how he would perform compared to him.

    1. Think Sette Camara is in his second season of F2 but I can’t be sure without looking it up. He is definite talent along with Markalov, he has been my star of F2 this year. Purely for his overtakes

  3. ”Robert Kubica has likened the way he now has to operate a Formula One steering wheel to holding a bird without hurting it or letting it fly away.” – LOL.

    1. Meanwhile Stroll has crushed the bird to death and destroyed the cage it was in….

      1. Stroll started with buying out with buying the bird and cage first..

      2. It’s been noted that Stroll generates more g forces at the wheel than the car does, that’s why williams can’t have the new screens on the steering wheels, true fact.

        1. @peartree ”that’s why williams can’t have the new screens on the steering wheels, true fact.”
          – I doubt it as Williams has been using a steering wheel model without a ‘built-in display’ like all the rest of the teams already before Stroll came in.

          1. It’s called a joke.

    2. They didn’t represent his comments that will because of his bad English, he meant you don’t have to grip it very hard and can use friction to turn it, like when taking a roundabout in a road car, you don’t grip it for dear life, you can roll with the turn for the hand coming over.

      1. @kpcart I don’t find his English bad. Yes, it mightn’t be perfect, but definitely better than during his BMW-Sauber days, for example.

  4. WHAT? A major international motor race in Saudi Arabia? That is completely outrageous…. In 15 or 20 years, maybe but now? My God that is so wrong… Almost as stupid and wrong as an F1 race in Vietnam (a MotoGP race in Vietnam would be a good idea however).

    1. From my experience of Riyadh, Formula E cars will probably be slower than the usual crazy drivers that like to race the city streets. Crossing the road there felt like real life frogger.

      Also isn’t saying the race will be on the outskirts of the city against the usual FE ethos?

    2. Why exactly? Western countries have more direct deaths on their hands than all of the Gulf over the last 100 years. People have a sick fascination with Saudi Arabia. It almost seems like some kind of fetish! Really perverted stuff. Obsessing over another country and it’s driving laws. For anyone that has driven there, I woudn’t want my father to drive there let alone my mother. Worry about your own disgusting back yards more and less about other people you sickos. And yes, it is a different much different culture than yours. Do you see them going on endlessly about your drunks stumbling home, the deaths from drunk driving, the rapes, etc?

  5. Vandoorne is disappointing so far this season. He need to practice his starts, so far it seems he only go backwards in first lap. With how tight the midfield is, end of first lap position contributes far more greatly on where you’d finish the race.

    1. His start in Spain was actually better than Alonso’s, but he lost the car in the first corner.

      1. Not better then. Starting skills include but not limited to: awareness of other cars, knowing how hard you could push your cold tires in first few corners, and launching smoothly as soon as the light goes off.

    2. @sonicslv Slow starts have always been something with Vandoorne. More than once in his two GP2 seasons he lost ground at the start it was stressfull. A shame that his last race was ruined with Grosjean’s crash because it was a pretty good start for once. I’d say too he is a bit disappointing but Alonso is making him look ordinary.

      1. @spoutnik The frustrating thing is he’s a slow cooker. His pace on first stint always bad, and when he can do decent pace he stuck behind slow cars already. He actually set respectable time at latter half of the race, but by that time it’s already too late to catch drivers he should compete with.

  6. Michael Brown (@)
    18th May 2018, 6:19

    Sometimes I misread Brown as Brawn

    1. @mbr-9 you shouldn’t Michael brown

    2. me too Michael Brawn

  7. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    18th May 2018, 7:18

    I expected a bit more from Stoffel in his second season. He’s up against arguably the best but it’s comprehensive the way he’s being beaten. Obvious comparisons with Kevin Magnussen’s time at McLaren (especially with them coming through together) but it’s actua Kevin’s Dad Jan that Stoffel’s career is reminding me of. Hopefully he will turn it round, else McLaren must be tempted to take a punt on Norris next year.

    1. @rdotquestionmark

      In a way yes. Jan was probably naturally quicker than Stoff, but he was very unprofessional, he has admitted so a number of times. He mentioned that he was a smoker and totally disorganised, which drew Ron’s ire. I guess he was relying on his natural talent alone, which obviously didn’t work for him in an era where racing drivers were becoming more and more professional.

      Stoff on the hand is the total opposite. He fits the bill of a modern F1 driver in every way, except for the fact that he isn’t performing on track. I think he is very sensitive to the the stability of the car and can’t drive around problem like Fernando can. He reminds of Jenson, who on his day, when everything is setup to his liking, was imperious. The Mclaren isn’t exactly the best car to exhibit his talents. However, this will make him a stronger driver, and he will need to learn how to drive around the problems if he is to stay there. If he doesn’t progress as the season wears on, Lando will be knocking on Eric’s door, without a doubt.

      1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        18th May 2018, 16:48

        Yes good point. I remember reading an article about Ron losing it with Jan because his luggage was all just stuffed in his case.

        Driving style there are a lot of similarities to Jenson but Jenson was certainly a lot closer to Fernando (until his last 6 months) albeit a lot more experienced.

    2. To be fair, is he really getting the same equipment as Alonso every race?? …that and when there is a tow to be offered it’s Vandoorne who is towing Alonso not the other way. I think this is too much Team Alonso at this point, once he is gone we may see more car parity at McLaren.

      1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        18th May 2018, 16:50

        Tough to say. Then again can you ever truly confirm that for any driver being beaten by a teammate. Jenson seemed to have an equal package and was fairly well matched.

      2. @dubsix @rdotquestionmark about tows alone Vandoorne said to the belgian media that whoever made the best time in Q1 is being served the tow late in Q2 (better grip).

  8. RaceFans understands some manufacturer teams are concerned about the potential success of a race in Saudi Arabia

    Can you clarify that a bit @keithcollantine? It reads like they are concerned that it may be too successful, but presumably you mean they mean it won’t be successful – or it will stir up controversy?

    Either way, I’m really hoping there’s a female driver on the FE grid in time for this race.

  9. F1 games group Codemasters targets £280m value in London IPO (Sky)

    “The video games publisher Codemasters is racing towards a London stock market flotation that will crystallise a multimillion-pound fortune for its bosses and see it recruit a former Candy Crush-maker director as its chairman.”

    So now it all starts going down the drain.

    1. The games are bad anyway.

    2. Codemaster game is so bad compared to other racing sim games.

      The game is either too difficult or arcade like. Plus the cars are all the same speed. In a sport where there is no BoP, why are all the cars very similar in performance? There’s no more insight gained playing the game than I already know from watching races. The number of car parameters that’s can changed is laughable.

      Surprised anyone actually will buy his years game. It’s an abosulute joke it’s being sold as the official F1 game.

  10. Am I alone in thinking that LMP1 car in the picture looks horrible? I find it looks like a bit of a caricature of a sedan paired with a racing car. Or maybe what I would come up with when trying to build one myself from Lego using large blocks. Also, will everyone who still mentions closed cockpits would look soooo much better than the Halo have a good look at this car and please stop using that argument?

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