Vandoorne: P7 in Malaysia qualifying 'as good as it gets'

Stoffel Vandoorne called qualifying seventh for the Malaysian Grand Prix "as good as it gets" after McLaren entered the Formula 1 race weekend expected to struggle at the power-hungry Sepang circuit.. 

Running without chassis upgrades given to teammate Fernando Alonso and on his first time at the Sepang circuit, Vandoorne described the session as "as good as it gets", finishing three places ahead of the Spaniard.

"The whole qualifying session was really good for us," Vandoorne said.

"From the moment I hit the road I didn't make any mistakes, put together all the laps I needed to.

"To qualify seventh on a circuit like this is probably as good as it gets."

McLaren-Honda had expected to suffer at Sepang, a faster circuit than Singapore, where Vandoorne took his best-ever finish in P7 a fortnight ago, but the Belgian was able to record his best qualifying result yet in F1.

"This track was always going to be more difficult for us than tracks like Monaco or Singapore, where there are a lot of corners but we're in a good position," Vandoorne said.

"We've shown really good pace in qualifying but it's hard to tell how we will fare in the race.

"I think we generally tend to be a bit better in one-lap pace so tomorrow will be tough."