Assessing Stoffel Vandoorne

[FergalVET]

With the somewhat surprising announcement that GP2 champion and McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne will replace Fernando Alonso for the Bahrain Grand Prix, people have voiced their hype over the highly rated Belgian.
I don't want to seem like a party pooper, as i also rate Vandoorne very high, but it would be very surprising if Vandoorne shocked us with his performance this weekend. Although he has a solid record around Bahrain, he is jumping into a much more powerful and complex car, which he is expected to bring up to racing standards by Sunday. It's his deserved chance to show us what he's got in Motorsport's pinnacle, and we can officially call him an F1 driver, which is why he will without a doubt throw everything at this weekend, and leave nothing on the conservative side.
Who knows what will happen? Will he be faster than Button? Unlikely, but not impossible. We know he's fast, and this weekend will add an extra layer to our knowledge of his racing capacity. I look forward to seeing how he gets on.

 

[perrushe]

yes he had done a great job today

 

[Tom]

I think he did a great job, yeah. I mean, from RD sim racing to your first McLaren F1 point - living the dream, right?

 

[El-ahrairah]

Didnt he get banned from RD for crashing into too many people? Guess he got the last laugh in that one

 

[Blkout]

Dude drove like a boss in Bahrain. That was my first time watching him drive. Hard to argue with his results in a car he's never driven. He scored the first points for McLaren this year.

 

[Tom]

Didnt he get banned from RD for crashing into too many people? Guess he got the last laugh in that one

He's been out for a while, so I guess he learned a thing or two and put that into practice in real-life.

Honestly, even tho back then he had caused some trouble - and most long-time members know more details that I don't want to speak about - I'm happy to see that GT isn't the only game to help sim racers become real-life race drivers.

 

[vee10]

2 Laps onboard from the race start impressive stuff. Honda seems to have decent grunt on the 1st lap but must have turned it down for the second. Who says F1 is boring.
https://vid.me/2R48
Video -

Vandoorne Race Start 2 Laps On Board

The sound seems much more raw than the Bernie feed I normally get.

 

[paracletus]

Webber recently said that "f1 talent pool has never been weaker" and it's probably true.
This kid shows some promise though, very early days yet though. There are quite a few drivers who probably don't deserve their massively paid seats in f1 at the moment. The sport needs a real shake up - complete overhaul can't come soon enough.