Stoffel Vandoorne embarks on his third campaign in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with Mercedes-Benz EQ after the German giant’s victory in his first campaign last season.
For the 2019/20 campaign, Vandoorne moved on to the newly named Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team as Mercedes’ involvement as a manufacturer was fully consolidated.
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Vandoorne’s racing career began when he was six years old, the age at which he began competing in karting championships.
Already with many victories under his belt, the turning point for the Belgian was in 2008, when he won the championship in that year’s Belgian KF2 season.
The following year he marked the start of an international motorsports career for Vandoorne, before advancing to the F4 Eurocup in 2010 and winning in his debut year.
Formula 1 experience
In 2013, he entered the McLaren Young Drivers Program and was chosen as the official reserve driver for McLaren Mercedes in 2014.
In addition to this position in Formula 1, Vandoorne competed in the GP2 Series for the French ART Grand Prix team. After a successful season in his freshman year, the driver managed to win the championship on his second attempt.
Image: Planet F1
A year later, Vandoorne came in as a replacement for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who was injured. He thus debuted in Formula 1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2016 and finished with points in his first competition.
The Belgian driver remained with the McLaren team until joining HWA Racelab in October 2018. Together with DTM champion Gary Paffett, both two made up the team’s driver line-up in their debut season in the electric street racing championship.
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When HWA morphed into the Mercedes-Benz work team in season 6, Vandoorne teamed up with rookie Nyck de Vries and led the Silver Arrow 01 to their first podium at the season opener in Diriyah, and also landed a first victory in the final race in Berlin to close an impressive campaign for the German brand.
The pair return for season 7 with the title between the eyes in Formula E’s first campaign as the FIA world championship.
Written by I Jhonattan González
