Alonso: Vandoorne closer to me than previous F1 teammates

Fernando Alonso has backed under-pressure McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, claiming his previous Formula 1 teammates were further behind him than the Belgian. 

Vandoorne is yet to out-qualify Alonso in what has proved a difficult and frustrating season, while he has only registered eight points compared to Alonso’s 44 from the opening 12 races.

Despite being outpaced by Alonso in the last 17 qualifying sessions, the Spaniard believes Vandoorne has fared better against him than his previous teammates, including Kimi Raikkonen – who was outqualified by the two-time world champion in 16 of the 19 races during their spell together at Ferrari in 2014. 

“I think it’s difficult to beat me,” Alonso joked. “He always has to be a little bit behind. But if you see previous team mates, they were a lot further behind than Stoffel. Like in 2014 or something like that, it was six or seven-tenths to Kimi every race. He’s less than that now.”

Following his continuing struggles with McLaren’s MCL33 - which has proved less competitive than hoped - Vandoorne took on a new chassis for the Hungarian Grand Prix and had been running inside the top 10 until he was forced into retirement with a gearbox issue. 

Amid uncertainty over Vandoorne’s future at the Woking squad, Alonso defended his teammate, adding that he has been let down by an underperforming car. 

“I don’t think his reputation is going down,” he insisted. “The car is what it is. The car is underperforming. We as a team are trying to find the problem and to have both cars in the same conditions, with the same performance. He has shown his talent already. There’s no need for proof.

“Being a champion in every series before Formula 1, right now in a difficult car with some difficulties last year – and this year as well. He’s OK. He will be very close in performance as soon as the car is delivering the normal performance.

“There’s nothing I need to say to him,” he added. “For his reputation for you guys, you need to wait and see, or see the result before Silverstone or last year in terms of qualifying.”