It has been a meteoric rise for the young Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, who has finished second in the two main Formula One feeder series – the GP2 Series and the Formula Renault 3.5 series, in his rookie seasons in both categories. His rise has been so strong that he has been tipped to surprise everybody by taking the second McLaren seat for 2015. No rookie has been so strong in GP2 since Nico Hülkenberg in 2009. Vandoorne is that good.
Vandoorne, from Kortrijk in Belgium, began his career with karting from the age of six. At the age of 17, he was second in the Karting World Cup in the KF2 category. With this, Vandoorne jumped to car racing. He began his career in the F4 Eurocup 1.6 series. He won the series at his first attempt, beating Frenchman Norman Nato. He took the logical step up and moved up to the two-litre categories, competing in both the Eurocup and NEC championships with KTR. He finished fifth and third respectively in these championships but was winless in both. For the next season, he moved to a top team, Josef Kraufmann Racing. He managed to beat the Red-Bull junior Daniil Kvyat to the title that year in a season which was dominated by the two drivers. He also took five wins from seven races in the Northern European Cup.
At this point, Vandoorne was attracting the eyes of some Formula One teams, and he was subsequently signed by McLaren. He moved up to the Formula Renault 3.5 series with Fortec Motorsports, who won the title the previous year with Robin Frijns. Vandoorne’s biggest challenger that year was is stable mate Kevin Magnussen, although Magnussen was more experienced in this category. The season was dominated by three drivers: Magnussen, Vandoorne and Red Bull-backed Antonio Felix da Costa. Magnussen took five wins, Vandoorne four, Felix da Costa three, with nobody being anywhere near the trio in the end. However it was Magnussen who took the title, and subsequently a seat with McLaren’s Formula One team. Vandoorne however was set for a complete change of scene.
Having spent the majority of his car racing career racing in the World Series by Renault, McLaren placed Vandoorne in ART’s GP2 team, the team where former McLaren youngster Lewis Hamilton won the title in his rookie season in 2006. Vandoorne had never raced on the Pirelli tyres, which has caught so many young drivers switching to GP2 and GP3 out, so that makes the fact that he won his first ever GP2 race all the more impressive. Unfortunately for Vandoorne, he failed to pick up a single point in the next five events, but that was not always his fault. At this point, DAMS’ Jolyon Palmer already had a huge lead in the championship. Vandoorne bounced back though, and picked up three wins, four consecutive poles, and a further six podiums to finish runner-up to the vastly more experienced Palmer. It was a season which raised a lot of eyebrows in the Formula One paddock, as no rookie in the Pirelli era of GP2 had ever come close to producing such a performance. It is also worth bearing in mind that ART had been on a catastrophic downturn prior to Vandoorne’s arrival, a team which once was challenging for titles, barely even challenging for wins up until the end of last year.
Relive the battle for victory at Spa last week! Great footage
https://t.co/4t0k6hzhMZ http://t.co/Wmm4sIrBBf
— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) August 31, 2014
It is only a matter of time before Vandoorne gets his chance. Who knows? It may even be next year with McLaren. Should he remain in GP2 with a team like ART, he will absolutely walk it. I cannot see how any driver could produce a better performance across the season in GP2 when we must consider than Vandoorne will only come back stronger next year. Belgium hasn’t had a Grand Prix winner since Thierry Boutsen; I wouldn’t be surprised if Vandoorne notches up a few Grand Prix wins in his time, he surely will be in Formula One before long. The guy simply is too good to not be at the very top.
Trophies are coming in nicely! pic.twitter.com/yfYmemMsoN
— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) November 23, 2014
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