Vandoorne: Massa clash due to 'embarrassing' pace

Stoffel Vandoorne says his collision with Felipe Massa during the Spanish Grand Prix was a result of "quite embarrassing" pace from his McLaren-Honda.

After a solid start to the race, Vandoorne was in 16th place when the recovering Massa attempted to pass on the inside having been a long way back halfway down the pit straight. By the braking zone, the Williams was comfortably alongside but Vandoorne turned in, making contact and breaking his front right suspension.

Asked if he wasn't expecting Massa to be alongside him, Vandoorne replied: "Yes, exactly. He was so far behind and I was using all the tools I had to be as quick as possible at the end of the straight, so for him to be there was quite embarrassing."

Vandoorne faced the media before being informed by RACER that he had a three-place grid penalty in Monaco, and the Belgian felt it was not a move he should have been penalized for having retired from the race.

"I don't want to blame anyone. I think it was a racing incident. From my side I didn't really expect Felipe to be there because he was quite far behind and I was using all the tools I had to be as quick as possible at the end of the straight. Unfortunately we had contact, which was a shame and still shows we need to improve a bit in order to be able to compete."

However, Vandoorne is confident McLaren can still get more pace out of the car it currently has, with the team's learning having been hurt by reliability problems so far this year.

"[The pace] was kind of normal, let's say. Since the beginning of the season it has not been easy and we came here with some upgrades. I think they've been positive but we still need to improve a little bit in race situations when we are fighting with others. I don't think we've had a decent run so far yet."

Vandoorne has only completed one race from the opening five rounds, while McLaren is now the only team yet to score a point this season after Sauber's eighth place in Spain.