Vandoorne lands McLaren reserve role

Stoffel Vandoorne has been named as McLaren’s reserve driver, and the Belgian will also run a season of GP2 with ART.

Vandoorne lost out to colleague Kevin Magnussen in the fight for the Renault 3.5 title last year. He’s clearly being lined up for a promotion to a race seat should an opportunity arise.

“I’ve been a member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme for almost a year now, and I’ve learned an enormous amount in that time,” said Vandoorne. “I visit the McLaren Technology Centre at least once a week, sometimes more often than that, and I’ve done a lot of work in the MTC simulator to assist McLaren’s Formula 1 engineers develop the new-for-2014 MP4-29 Formula 1 car.

“Equally, I’ve worked very hard on my physical and mental fitness over the past year, and the McLaren Young Driver Programme has been absolutely fantastic in that respect. The guys at Woking really know how to prepare a driver for Formula 1, and I’ve really enjoyed working with them. I still do.”

Sporting director Sam Michael said: “Stoffel is a truly excellent young driver – fast, combative, consistent, intelligent and ambitious – and he’s already made an excellent impression on all at McLaren during the year he’s spent as a member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme.
“His technical input is first-class, he’s excellent in our simulator, and he isn’t afraid of hard work. He has a collaborative and engaging manner, and he’s therefore as popular at McLaren as he is helpful.”