Stoffel Vandoorne

Stoffel Vandoorne (born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian professional racing driver who is currently racing for DS Penske in Formula E. He had previously competed in Formula One for McLaren from 2016 to 2018.

After qualifying 12th ahead of Jenson Button, Vandoorne finished 10th and became the first reserve driver to score points on debut since Sebastian Vettel at the 2007 United States Grand Prix.

In 2009 he finished as runner-up in the CIK-FIA World Cup in the KF2 category.

The same year he won the 'steering wheel' competition held by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium.

The prize money of 45,000 euros helped him start his car racing career in F4 Eurocup 1.6.

In 2010, Vandoorne moved up to single-seater racing, joining the F4 Eurocup 1.6 series.

He went on to win the series on his first attempt, finishing the season with six wins and three further podium finishes.

The prize from winning the series helped him to move up to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 the following year.

He also earned a place in the FIA Driver Academy.

In 2011, he graduated to competing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Kurt Mollekens' KTR team.

He finished fifth overall, with one podium at the Hungaroring and another eight-point-scoring finishes throughout the season.

He also participated in Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, where he finished third in the series' standings with eight podiums.

For the 2012 season Vandoorne remained in the Eurocup, but left KTR to join Josef Kaufmann Racing.

He won the championship by ten points after a tight battle between himself and Red Bull-backed Daniil Kvyat.

Between them they won 11 of the 14 races and finished over 100 points ahead of their nearest challenger.

Vandoorne finished the season with four wins and six podiums to his name.

He also contested selected events in the Northern European Cup, where he won five of the seven races that he started, and finished on the podium in a sixth race.

In 2013, Vandoorne raced in Formula Renault 3.5, where he replaced 2012 champion Robin Frijns at Fortec Motorsport.

He finished runner-up to Kevin Magnussen with four wins and 10 podiums, including a victory at his home track of Spa-Francorchamps.

In February 2013, Vandoorne joined McLaren's Young Driver Programme, under the tutelage of his then manager Richard Goddard, in collaboration with the team's sporting director Sam Michael and its head of communications Matt Bishop, to whom Vandoorne had been introduced in 2011 by Alex Wurz.

In January 2014, it was confirmed that Vandoorne would make his debut in GP2, racing with ART.

In the opening race at Bahrain, Vandoorne claimed his first victory of the season in the feature race.

He followed this up with four consecutive pole positions, three more wins at the Hungaroring, Monza and Yas Marina and six additional podiums.

Despite being a rookie, he finished runner-up to 2014 champion Jolyon Palmer.

He was partnered by 2014 Japanese Formula Three champion Nobuharu Matsushita.

After five feature race wins, twelve podiums and four pole positions, Vandoorne took the title in Sochi, 108 points over his nearest rival Alexander Rossi.

Vandoorne holds the record for all-time most wins, most feature race wins, most pole positions and most consecutive pole positions, most podiums, most podiums in a season, most points and most points in a single season in GP2 history, with the series being rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship at the end of the following year.

In January 2014, he was announced as a third driver for McLaren F1 also taking up driving duties in the GP2 Series for ART Grand Prix.

He was champion of the 2015 GP2 Series and the 2021–22 Formula E World Championship.

He currently resides in both Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Roeselare (Belgium).

Stoffel Vandoorne was born in Kortrijk, West Flanders.

Vandoorne was introduced to motorsport at the age of six during a visit to the kart track of World Karts in Kortrijk in Flanders, Belgium, with his father.

Vandoorne started karting after the owner of the track gave him a mini-kart.

Initially, lack of funding restricted Vandoorne to race 3 to 4 races per year.

By age 16 he was Belgian KF2 Champion.

Vandoorne reunited with ART for 2015, as well as was considered the main title contender.

On 12 February 2016, it was announced that Vandoorne would race a Honda in Super Formula for Dandelion Racing.

He finished fourth overall, the highest ranking among Honda engine users, with two wins and one pole position at Fuji Speedway in wet conditions throughout the season.

On 31 March 2016, it was announced Vandoorne would be replacing regular driver Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix after the Spaniard was ruled unfit to drive following a major accident in the previous round.

On 3 September 2016, ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, it was announced by McLaren that Jenson Button would not be racing in 2017, and that Vandoorne would be replacing him to partner Alonso for the season.