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Teams have expressed 'interest' in me - Vandoorne

Published on 18 Apr 2016 11:18
2
By: Rob Veenstra

McLaren may not be Stoffel Vandoorne's only option to step up into a full-time race cockpit for 2017. The Belgian, strongly backed by the British team, made an impressive debut recently in Bahrain, where Fernando Alonso sat out the race with chest injuries.

Spaniard Alonso is back in action this weekend, but 24-year-old Vandoorne, the reigning GP2 champion, made his point two weeks ago in Bahrain. "At this stage I don't think he (Vandoorne) has to prove anything more," McLaren team boss Eric Boullier said in China. "It's just a question of having an opportunity."

That opportunity could come in 2017, with reports suggesting F1 veteran Jenson Button might have to switch to Williams in order to continue his long career. "This year I was already close to a permanent race seat," Vandoorne told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "Right now it's too early to talk about 2017, but the coming months will be interesting," he said. "McLaren and some other teams have already expressed their interest in me."

Vandoorne's talent and potential is being mentioned in similar tones to that of Max Verstappen, who is from the Netherlands. Verstappen said it would be good for another driver from a Benelux country to shine in F1. "It would be nice if we can dominate as drivers from the Lage Landen (low countries)," the 18-year-old said, before smiling: "But with me first and Stoffel in second place." (GMM)

khasmir

Posts: 893

It's time the top teams go back to having one experienced driver and one junior driver.
It's a bit silly to have 5 world champions in 3 teams (Ferrari, Merc, McLaren). And Rosberg is also getting a bit older...
The average age of those six drivers is around 33 years...
That's a lot of experienced... [Read more]

1
Apr 18 2016 - 19:01

F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Jenson Button Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Williams

Replies (2)

khasmir

Posts: 893
It's time the top teams go back to having one experienced driver and one junior driver.
It's a bit silly to have 5 world champions in 3 teams (Ferrari, Merc, McLaren). And Rosberg is also getting a bit older...
The average age of those six drivers is around 33 years...
That's a lot of experienced concentrated around a few teams, it should be spread out more. Also, having made enough money by the end of their career, the experienced drivers should be willing to drive for lesser teams and for less money, and share their experience. Haven't seen a lot of that anymore for a while now, it used to be more common say 10 years ago.
- + 1
- Apr 18 2016 - 19:01
- mclarenfan1968
  
  Posts: 1,027
  Hah never going to happen in this day and age, you'd need to force it through regulations. These days the pay and benefits alone makes it highly lucrative to drive for top teams even if you didn't win titles.
  
  If they do force it through regulations (which lol I don't why anyone would agree in their capitalistic minds), the world will hear cries of communism, socialism in F1.
  + 0
  
  Apr 19 2016 - 13:44