Stoffel Vandoorne in profile
Monday 13 March 2017 11:37, UK
Stoffel Vandoorne is finally ready for his first full season in Formula 1 at the age of 24, and he will hope to live up to his glowing reputation at McLaren.
The Belgian has been a highly rated youngster for some time, especially after his emphatic GP2 title win in 2014, but has had to wait for his chance as McLaren persisted with an experienced driver line-up.
Now, with Jenson Button gone, Vandoorne has the opportunty to show what he can do behind the wheel of the MCL32 and give two-time world champion Fernando Alonso a run for his money.
Unlike many of today's drivers, Vandoorne has made his way to the pinnacle of motorsport without any major funding and without a racing heritage. Born in Kortrijk, he started karting at a young age because his father, an architect, had designed the restaurant at a track. By the age of six he had started his karting career and progressed through the national ranks before finishing runner-up in the KF2 championship in 2009.
Vandoorne graduated to single-seater racing a year later and won the F4 Eurocup 1.6 series at his first attempt, securing six victories and three podiums in the process. He moved into Formula Renault in 2011 with KTR, finishing fifth, before joining Josef Kaufmann Racing the following year. After battling Red Bull junior Daniil Kvyat throughout the 2012 campaign, Vandoorne eventually won the championship by 10 points.
A step up to the 3.5 series with Fortec Motorsports was Vandoorne's next port of call and he impressively finished second behind the McLaren-backed Kevin Magnussen. His 2013 performances and four victories saw Vandoorne signed to the McLaren Young Driver Programme.
Magnussen earned a 2014 seat with the Woking team as Vandoorne started his first year as an F1 reserve driver, combining his role with his new GP2 duties. Just like in Formula Renault 3.5, Vandoorne won his first ever GP2 race with ART before eventually losing out to Jolyon Palmer in the championship. His stock was rising, however, and the Belgian was insurmountable in 2015, claiming seven victories as he won the championship by 108 points.
With other F1 teams now circling, the clamour for McLaren to give a drive to Vandoorne was growing after the axing of Magnussen, with Button's future also in doubt. The Briton did, however, stay on for another year, and while Vandoorne was forced to once again split his McLaren third driver duties with another racing series, this time in Japan's Super Formula, he was handed an F1 debut at the Bahrain GP after Alonso's high-speed crash at the 2016 season-opener. Vandoorne didn't disappoint, out-qualifying Button and securing McLaren's first points of the season with a 10th-place finish.
When Button confirmed he would be stepping down at the end of the season, there was no question who was going to replace him for 2017. It was always a matter of 'when' rather than 'if' Vandoorne would get his chance, and now's his time to take it.
