Stoffel Jacques Luc Vandoorne (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɔfəl vɑnˈdoːr(ə)n]; born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot and serves as a test and reserve driver for Aston Martin in Formula One. In formula racing, Vandoorne competed in Formula One from 2016 to 2018, and won the 2021–22 Formula E World Championship with Mercedes. He competed further in Formula E with DS Penske in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons and Maserati in the 2024-25 season.
Born in and raised in Roeselare in West Flanders, Vandoorne began karting aged six. Despite struggling with a lack of funding, Vandoorne achieved success in national and international competition, progressing to junior formulae in 2010. He won his first championship at the 2010 F4 Eurocup with the FFSA Academy, then progressing to Formula Renault, where he won the Eurocup in 2012 and finished runner-up to Kevin Magnussen in the 3.5 Series in 2013. Vandoorne graduated to the GP2 Series with ART in 2014, finishing runner-up to Jolyon Palmer in his rookie season. The following season, he won the championship in record-breaking fashion with seven victories and 16 podiums from 21 starts. A member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme since 2013, Vandoorne made his Formula One debut with McLaren at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, substituting for an injured Fernando Alonso and scoring his maiden points finish after outqualifying teammate Jenson Button. He partnered Alonso as a full-time driver in 2017, scoring several points finishes across two full seasons before being released at the end of 2018; he has since served as a reserve driver for McLaren, Mercedes, Racing Point and Aston Martin.
Vandoorne moved into Formula E for the 2018–19 season with HWA. Despite the Venturi powertrains' relative lack of performance, Vandoorne achieved his maiden pole position at the Hong Kong ePrix. Vandoorne retained his seat at the newly-formed Mercedes team in 2019–20, finishing runner-up to António Félix da Costa after taking his maiden win at race six of the Berlin ePrix. Vandoorne entered sportscar racing in 2021, finishing runner-up in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with Jota. In his third season with Mercedes in Formula E, Vandoorne won the World Championship after scoring eight podium finishes, including a win at the Monaco ePrix. He moved to DS Penske for 2022–23, but was unable to defend his title and left after two winless seasons to join Maserati. Vandoorne joined the Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar project in 2023, making his premier class WEC debut at the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Stoffel Jacques Luc Vandoorne was born on 26 March 1992 in Roeselare, 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 three to four races per year. By the age of sixteen he was Belgian KF2 Champion. In 2009, he finished as runner-up in the CIK-FIA World Cup in the KF2 category. That 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, Vandoorne 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 eleven of the fourteen 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 ten podiums, including a victory at his home track of Spa-Francorchamps.
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.
Vandoorne reunited with ART for 2015, as well as was considered the main title contender. 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.
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.
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, Vandoorne was announced as a third driver for McLaren F1 also taking up driving duties in the GP2 Series for ART Grand Prix.
McLaren (2016–2018, 2020–2022)
2016: Race debut as reserve driver
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 during the Australian Grand Prix. 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.