Stoffel Vandoorne believe🌳s he is “v꧅ery closely matched” to McLaren Formula 1 teammate Fernando Alonso and feels statistical comparisons between the pair do not tell the “whole story”.

Vandoorne has been outshone by Alonso so far in his second full-season in F1, having scored just eight points to the Spaniard’s haul of 32, with McLaren enjoying greater competitiveness and reliability foll🌠owing its switch from Honda to Renault power heading into 2018. 

The Belgian has also failed to out-qualify his teammate in the last 11 races - a run that stretches back to last year’s Malaysian Grand P🐷rix - but insists he is in a much stronger position this season going head-to-head against his double F1 title-winning teammate. 

“I don’t think that tells the whole story,” Vandoorne said.🀅 “Obviously the statistics t𝔍ell may be that, but I think in reality we are actually very, very closely matched in terms of what was last year. 

“I feel I’m in a much better position this year, and I think things have not always gone my way, we lacked a little bit of luck in some of🐲 the occasions and in some occasions Fernando was quicker as well, which is normal.”

McLaren had high expectations of challenging for podiums heading into the campaign, but has endured a trickier start𒊎 than envisaged, finishing inside 💃the top five only once in Melbourne’s season-opener. 

The Woking-based squad is four points adrift of engine suppliers Renault in the battle over fourth in the constructors’ and has lacked straight-line speed compared to its nearest midfield rivals, thoug▨h Vandoorne is adamant his team is maki𓃲ng progress. 

“I think we’re going in the right direction, the team is moving forward,” Vandoorne explained. “Obviously we’ve had a tough start to the season, there was a lot of expectations on our team, and we’ve not managed to perform as expected so we keep improving race after race and hopefully this weekend ♑we can show that we’ve made another step forward.

“It’s🧸 been a little bit of a difficult period,” he added. “I had a retirement in Spain, and then Fernando had a retirement in Monaco. Obviously that was not ideal but I think we’re still very close in this midfield and one weekend we are 🎐a bit stronger than another one. 

“I think the last couple of races have been difficult tracks for us as welﷺl in terms of overtaking. I think this weekend is a different story, this track is completely different than the other ones and hopefully it should provide us with some o🍌pportunities.”