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Stoffel Vandoorne has admitted that he was not left surprised after McLaren announced it would be retaining him for the 2018 season. The Belgian was formally announced on Wednesday, but he admits that his multi-year deal was a strong indication he would be staying on.
"To me it was not a surprise because I had a multi-year contract already," the 2015 GP2 champion said. "But it's always nice to know that the team bosses have confidence in my abilities. Getting confirmation is always good because now I have 100 per cent confidence that I will be in formula one next year. That gives me psychological rest for the remainder of the season - not that it really played on my mind. But as I said, getting confirmation is always nice."
McLaren chief's Zak Brown and Eric Boullier praised Vandoorne in a press release, stating that they hope he is one day winning Grands Prix for the team. While he is still only in his first full season, Vandoorne hopes that will one day be the situation.
"Hopefully that will be true one day," he said at a sponsor event ahead of his home Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. "At the moment the results are not there but all the ingredients are there to be successful in the future. Hopefully I can take a step forward next season. After a difficult start we have made a lot of progress and the last races in particular were positive for me, especially compared to Alonso," he added.
After a tough start to his F1 career, Vandoorne seems to be coming up to speed, as well as McLaren-Honda: "Everyone knows our situation," he said. "But since the beginning of the year it has been improving and hopefully that will continue in the coming weeks and months. As for whether I can take a real step next season, we will have to wait until the (winter) tests in Barcelona."
Fergal Walsh
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