Stoffel Vandoorne gets Formula E drive for 2019 following McLaren axe
Vandoorne to partner DTM champion Gary Paffett at HWA Racelab
Last Updated: 04/12/18 4:42pm
Stoffel Vandoorne will race in Formula E in the 2018-19 season following his axing from F1 by McLaren.
Vandoorne has endured a nightmare second season in F1, scoring only eight points while he has been out-qualified by team-mate Fernando Alonso at the last 21 Grands Prix.
That poor form led to McLaren picking Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris as their driver line-up for 2019.
Schumacher tipped for greatness
Vandoorne has, however, earned a motorsport lifeline and has been confirmed as an HWA Racelab driver for their debut Formula E campaign, where he will partner newly-crowned DTM champion Gary Paffett.
The independent outfit are heavily backed by Mercedes.
Super excited to join HWA in Formula E and start this new challenge together! And it’s straight to business! Testing starts tomorrow here in Valencia! pic.twitter.com/NE3U7Hzmm5
— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) October 15, 2018
Vandoorne, who won the 2015 GP2 title, was tipped for big things in F1 and impressed by scoring points on his debut when filling in for the injured Fernando Alonso at the 2016 Bahrain GP.
He earned a full-time seat with McLaren for 2017 after Jenson Button's retirement, but has never consistently lived up to his potential and has only had six points-scoring finishes, and none since Azerbaijan, in an under-performing car.
It is his worrying deficit to Alonso that sealed his fate for the 2019 season, with Sainz and Norris drafted in.
McLaren had expressed an interest in keeping Vandoorne within their driver programme despite his poor form, and he had been linked with the IndyCar series.
But Vandoorne will instead join fellow ex-F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne in Formula E.
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