Team chief confident Vandoorne would perform in China if needed; Says there's no need to think about 2017 McLaren line-up yet
Friday 16 September 2016 11:26, UK
Stoffel Vandoorne has earned the trust of McLaren after scoring a point on his Formula 1 debut, and Eric Boullier admits the Belgian has many admirers.
Last year's GP2 champion enjoyed a whirlwind weekend, only arriving in Bahrain on Friday morning to replace the injured Fernando Alonso before out-qualifying team-mate Jenson Button a day later, and then getting the Woking team's tally for the season up and running after finishing 10th under the lights.
Vandoorne has been tipped for a bright future in the sport and, should Alonso's fractured ribs not heal, McLaren would have no qualms in letting him race again at the Chinese GP. However, Boullier claimed it was too soon to start thinking about a seat in 2017.
"It's a massive boost of confidence for him and his career," the team principal said of the McLaren reserve driver.
"I know a lot of people have their eyes on him so it's good for him. No, there's no pressure [to announce our driver line-up for next year yet]!
"At least he didn't have time to think about it. We didn't put any pressure on him, and he did a brilliant job. He's obviously going to be even better if he races again so if he has to we are confident."
Starting 11th, Vandoorne avoided trouble on lap one and put in an assured, mature performance at a track where he had won three times before in GP2.
He comfortably passed Marcus Ericsson to jump into the points late on, an outcome McLaren needed after Button's earlier retirement.
"It's already been a dream weekend for me as a first in Formula 1," Vandoorne, 24, told Sky F1. "It's never easy when you get in the car and haven't tested before to do a good job. I felt confident in the car and I think I made the most of it.
Button frustrated at 'painful' retirement
"Today was all about making no mistakes operationally - we got that - and came away with one point. Maybe with a bit more experience I could have got more out of it."
Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle remarked that Vandoorne was a "bit special" over the race weekend, and praised how he has fought his way to the F1 grid.
"You've got to remember there's no racing history in his family at all," Brundle said. "His dad was an architect who was designing some stuff at a car track, so they put him in car to keep him quiet. Now he's in F1. When you look at his career in Formula Renault, GP2 and so on, it's a pretty stellar ride.
"A few journalists from his country came up to me and said 'isn't this incredible' after qualifying. But it's exactly what I expected him to do. It's the level he won the GP2 championship with."
Alonso meanwhile is "99 per cent certain" he will return in China.
