Stoffel Vandoorne tames Fernando Alonso in the race and in the championship

Qualified in the Top 10 on Saturday, Stoffel Vandoorne made a fantastic start to find himself in 5th place at the beginning of the race. Maintaining the pace ahead of the Force India and Williams cars behind him, the Belgian managed to secure an excellent 7th place, equaling his best result in Formula 1.

« I can say that it was my best Formula 1 race so far. » exclaimed Vandoorne after his race.

The McLaren-Honda driver then reflected on his race, particularly his opening laps which were decisive: « I had a good start, we knew it would probably be difficult to keep the Force Indias and Williams behind, but in the end only Pérez managed to get ahead. From then on, I had an incredible pace, I pushed every lap to try to manage the tires and maintain the gap to Stroll, and I managed to do so until the end. »

Today was a strong performance! Proud of the job we’ve done this weekend and finish 7th!! 🇲🇾💪👊 #LuckyNumber7 #SV2 #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/5GToqDWhgP

— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) 1 octobre 2017

This second consecutive points finish after Singapore allows the Belgian to overtake Alonso in the championship with 13 points to the Spaniard’s 10.

The latter, moreover, experienced a hectic race, notably after encountering Kevin Magnussen on his path: « It was a difficult race today. Right from the start, at the second corner, the two Williams touched in front of me and made me lose a few positions. As a result, we ended up in the secondary group, running a bit slower than our true pace, and we couldn’t overtake. So I lost a lot of time and it really compromised our race. It’s a shame and certainly not one of our best races today. » concluded the Spaniard.

📻 ALO: “What an idiot – Hülkenberg was right!” 😠

📻 MAG: “What is this guy doing?” 😠#F1 #MalaysiaGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/qZTm9GYRVa

— Formula 1 (@F1) 1 octobre 2017