McLaren confirms Vandoorne for 2018

McLaren has confirmed Stoffel Vandoorne will be one of its race drivers in 2018 ahead of the Belgian's home race this weekend.

In a statement on Wednesday morning, McLaren announced that Vandoorne "will continue to race for the team in 2018 as planned" having originally been signed on a multi-year deal. Vandoorne - who will race at Spa-Francorchamps for the first time in F1 this weekend - scored his first point of the season last time out in Hungary and admits the confirmation will allow him to work without distraction for the rest of the season.

"I'm delighted that the team has now formally announced that I will continue to race for them next year, because I'll be able to approach the second half of my rookie season with total focus on the job in hand: namely getting the very most I can out of my car, my engineers, and everything and everyone around me," Vandoorne said.

Related Stories

"I've already learned such a huge amount in the first half of my first season in Formula 1 - from my engineers, from my mechanics, from Eric [Boullier], from Zak [Brown] and from Jonathan [Neale], and also from Fernando [Alonso], who is a brilliant driver and also an excellent teammate."

Racing director Boullier said the continuation of Vandoorne's deal comes as a result of recent improvements from the 25-year-old.

"When we announced at the end of 2016 that Stoffel would be a McLaren Honda race driver for 2017, we indicated that our plan was that he'd race for us for a number of years," Boullier said. "That plan hasn't changed, and I'm very happy therefore to be able to confirm that he'll continue to race for us next season.

"Like all rookies, he's had to learn a lot in the first half of his first Formula 1 season, but we have great confidence in him, and he's getting better and better all the time. His teammate is a tough opponent – that's an understatement in fact, because he's arguably the best driver in the sport today – but Stoffel's robust talent and fierce ambition make us sure that he'll achieve great successes with us in the future."

Zak Brown went one further than Boullier, stating his belief that Vandoorne is a world champion in waiting despite a difficult start to his rookie season.

"Echoing Eric's words, I'd like to add only that I regard Stoffel as a super talent – a future Formula 1 world champion in fact – and that's why I've always been adamant that he should race for us on a multi-year basis," Brown said.

"Before anyone asks me any questions about duration, we don't want to go into that kind of confidential contractual detail, but let me put it this way: when we signed Stoffel, we intended that he would race for us for a significant number of years, and that remains our firm intention.

"We all know Stoffel's potential, and when we have a package fast enough to win grands prix again – and we will – Stoffel will be in the right place to score his first Formula 1 victory."

Although Vandoorne's future is now secure, McLaren is waiting on Alonso's plans for 2018, with the double world champion having previously stated he will make a decision on his future later this year.