The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsStoffel Vandoorne
There are very few youngsters who could boast such an impressive career in junior series as 23-year old Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne. Since 2010, when he made the jump from go-karting to single-seater racing in the F4 Eurocup 1.6, Vandoorne has won three championships and came in touching distance to the title in other two.
After strong successive runner-up seasons in Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2 in 2013 and 2014 respectively, he managed to amass all the experience gained through the years and turn in into consistent on-track performances, which, coupled with his blistering pace has enabled the Belgian to clinch the 2015 GP2 title in quite a dominant fashion. Faced by tough competition, Vandoorne was nonetheless in a class of his own, having set a plethora of records over the course of the year including most points and most podium finishes during a single GP2 season. Moreover, after his latest dominant display in the season’s last feature race in Abu Dhabi, he’s now ahead of Pastor Maldonado on the all-time most GP2 wins list with 11 victories. The Venezuelan, interestingly, needed four seasons to reach the previous milestone of 10 wins, whilst Vandoorne matched it and went on to set a new record in just two years.
His swift rise through the ranks of motorsport landed him a test-driver role at McLaren with hopes of securing a Formula 1 drive in the future, but with Jenson Button probably staying at the team until at least 2017, it may be high time for the Belgian to search for another way into F1, or look for a temporary alternative until the seat becomes available.
If he happens to miss out on an F1 seat it would a real shame, as he’s arguably one of the hottest offerings on the market right now. Stoffel’s a already a complete driver, with loads of experience under his belt, capable of great levels of consistency and raw speed. When he’s not racing, he’s a modest and humble guy, seemingly always calm and level-headed, who never misses the opportnity to give credit to the team behind him that enabled his success. On track, however, Vandoorne’s no Mr. Nice Guy, having demonstated his class with some exciting charging drives, espeically in this season’s sprint races.
Of course, some may argue that the transition from GP2 to Formula 1 hasn’t always gone smoothly for some drivers, but the manner in which Stoffel Vandoorne dominated his competitors this year, as well as his other past accomplishments, suggest that there’s certainly a bright future in store for the Belgian.
