Zak Brown: McLaren "not a great place to be" for young drivers

McLaren certainly haven't met the expectations they set for themselves at the start of the season. They wanted to be fourth, but are currently fourth in midfield, behind Renault, Haas and Force India respectively. Stoffel Vandoorne hasn't out-qualified Fernando Alonso a single time either.

Regarding the future, it's unclear whether either driver will stay. Fernando Alonso seems uninterested at times, looking for other races elsewhere, while Stoffel Vandoorne seems to be running out of time to prove himself.

“It’s difficult to get set in any one particular direction because so many pieces move,” Brown told PlanetF1.

“In situations like this you need to keep every door and every avenue open and wait for some dominoes to fall. 

"Sometimes it’s in your control, sometimes it’s not.

“We know our situation with Stoffel - we’re seeing what other opportunities may or may not be available, seeing ultimately what Fernando wants to do.”

Luckily for McLaren, they have one of the brightest talents in Lando Norris under contract, and the British youngster, who is currently competing for the Formula 2 title with George Russell, could be lined up to replace either Alonso or Vandoorne. However, putting two young drivers in the McLaren currently isn't a great idea, according to Brown.

“Because we’re rebuilding, to have two young drivers in our car wouldn’t be a great place to be. 

“If we had a better race-car then you might take a risk with two younger drivers because you’ve given them good race-cars.”