McLaren not Giving up on 2018 Despite Restructure

McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne has insisted that the team are not writing off the 2018 Formula 1 season. Even a number of high-profile changes amid a tough start to the year will not steer them away from their goal.

McLaren had set pretty lofty targets heading into the new campaign. So far, things have fallen by the wayside as they failed to meet their pre-season expectations. The team’s maiden year following a switch to Renault power has been fairly unsuccessful. This ultimately led to a restructuring of the team’s management.

Because of the difficult start to the season, racing director Eric Boullier resigned ahead of the British Grand Prix. In that same weekend, the Woking-based squad slipped behind Force India to seventh place in the constructors’ standings.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a write-off,” Vandoorne said. “We will still keep bringing parts to the track, understand where our car is lacking performance because ultimately we’ll need to understand that for the design of next year’s car as well. 

“It’s not a write-off. I think the results definitely haven’t been what we wanted them to be, but if we look at where we were last year we’re still in a better shape, so it’s definitely not a write-off.”

The end result of the reshuffle was McLaren Racing chief operating officer Simon Roberts at the technical team. Andrea Stella was promoted to performance director and Gil de Ferran becoming sporting director.

Vandoorne said that he believes the changes will have a positive impact on the team. But he warned against expecting “overnight changes” to McLaren’s fortunes.

“There’s no specific timeline except we know that you can’t transform a team from one night overnight or one race to another, so it will require a bit of time,” he explained.

“To put a timeframe on that is extremely difficult. I don’t know how long it will take to get back to winning ways, I hope sooner rather than later obviously, but I think some things needed to change and like I said it’s a positive first step for the future.”