Brown: I wouldn't say we're disappointed by Stoffel...

With Vandoorne's future uncertain McLaren have admitted talking to Daniel Ricciardo before he signed for Renault, is interested in Carlos Sainz and has Lando Norris possibly requiring a McLaren F1 seat next year.

The Belgian's future at McLaren, and F1 for that matter, largely depends on what Alonso decides to do, if the Spaniard remains one would expect Vandoorne to be shown the door with Sainz or Norris in his place.

For the first time, in an interview with MN, Brown fired what might well be a public warning to his driver, "I wouldn't say we're disappointed by Stoffel. You'd like to see him beating his team-mate more often than he has."

"That's the same in any situation. You'd love to see your team-mates split right down the middle in beating each other every weekend."

"He's not been able to do that on a regular basis but I wouldn't say we're disappointed because last year we know we gave him a very difficult situation and this year we've not given him a very good car to work with."

"Given Fernando's talent and experience he's able to adapt to situations that aren't great," conceded Brown.

The team's new sporting director Gil de Ferran, who is tasked to mentor the drivers, sympathises with Alonso and Vandoorne because the team have not provided them with the tools to fight fairly.

McLaren's new man said, "We've been trying to figure out how to progress with the car and how to address some of the balance issues that we've been having."

"As a result of that, not only is the car not an easy car, but we keep changing things at a very fast pace. That's very difficult for both drivers to deal with. Certainly for a driver like Fernando, not only do I think that's one of his best traits, but his experience helps him a lot," explained de Ferran.

Ahead of the season break, Alonso joked with journos when asked about his edge over Vandoorne, "It's difficult to beat me!" Before adding on a serious note, "If you see previous teammates, they were a lot further down than Stoffel. In 2014 it was six or seven tenths to Kimi every race. It's less than that now."

"He arrived in a difficult car with some difficulties last year and this year as well, but he's OK, and he will be very close in performance as soon as the car is delivering normal performance."

"Nothing really to say to him. And for his reputation, you just need to wait and see, or see the results before Silverstone, or last year, in terms of qualifying," added Alonso.