Is Norris being primed to replace Vandoorne at McLaren?

Vandoorne has been something of an enigma since he stepped up to the top flight. He was stellar in his Formula 1 race debut, substituting for injured Fernando Alonso at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix in which the Belgian driver finished tenth.

In 2017 he stepped up to replace retiring Jenson Button but has failed to spark and stats show that he has been obliterated by his veteran teammate, and 'mentor' of sorts, Alonso. In qualy this year the score is 12-0 and after 12 rounds it's 44 to 8 points in the Spaniard's favour.

At the same time, McLaren have young Lando Norris on their books until the end of September at which point the team reportedly have to commit to giving him a race seat for 2019 or he marches off to... Toro Rosso!

Thus it is interesting to note that at the current in-season test, at Hungaroring, McLaren have opted to run Norris in the car for the two days - that's a potential 16 or so hours of very valuable track time for the 18-year-old Englishman.

The obvious question is: why not put Vandoorne in the car for at least a day so he can try and revive his form or?

Needless to say, Belgian media are fearing that Vandoorne is on the verge of being dropped, perhaps even at the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix and are understandably in his corner while seeking answers.

A source close to the McLaren suggests that it is unlikely the team will ditch Vandoorne for his home race at Spa-Francorchamps and would use it to assess their troubled driver after the summer break. However, Norris replacing Vandoorne for the Italian Grand Prix, after the race at Spa, or in Singapore is apparently a distinct possibility.

Adding fuel to the speculation is the fact that team chief Brown is not denying the possibility, when quizzed by Belgian journos in Budapest he said that "it's very unlikely" they will drop their number two driver.

As for contact with other drivers, Brown explained, "Technically and morally we speak to other drivers. It is normal at this time of the season."

Vandoorne himself is sure he will be in the car for the remainder of the season, "Yes, I am very confident. You know, after two bad GPs nothing is good but if you have a good run then you're a god, that's Formula 1..."

Meanwhile, talk is that Carlos Sainz could join Alonso to create an all-Spanish driver line-up at McLaren in 2019, while Brown has admitted that he would welcome Ferrari's out of contract veteran Kimi Raikkonen back at the team where he spent five years. Mixed signals aplenty.

On a positive side is if McLaren do wield the axe Vandoorne has a true believer in Sauber chief Frederic Vasseur, the Frenchman managed him in his 2015 GP2 championship winning year.

Apart from Ron Dennis 'discovering' and backing Lewis Hamilton all the way to the Briton's 2008 Formula 1 title and launching Raikkonen into superstardom, of late McLaren have a dubious record when it comes to nurturing their young drivers.

A number of useful drivers, in the early stages of their careers, were cast out before they had time to impress the team. The likes of Heikki Kovalainen, Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen spring to mind, with Vandoorne increasingly drifting towards that list.