Alex Jacques names the F2 champion who deserved a much longer Formula 1 career at McLaren

Follow us on Google Discover

We have seen plenty of young talents climb through the single-seater ladder only to get to F1 and be palmed off after being unable to show their potential in the little opportunity they get.

The 2025 season has shown just that, with Jack Doohan getting the boot from Alpine after just six races, despite the Australian showing that he is more than capable of competing with the very best that Formula 2 has had to offer in recent years.

Since GP2’s rebrand to F2 in 2017, only half of the championship-winning drivers have been given a chance to flex their muscles in F1 in the year following their feats.

Nyck de Vries and Oscar Piastri only got an F1 drive after serving as a reserve driver for a year first, with Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire yet to get a chance to race in F1 despite winning the F2 title in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Stoffel Vandoorne was ‘worthy’ of a longer career in F1 than he was given

Speaking exclusively to F1 Oversteer, former F2 commentator Alex Jacques named the driver who he thought had the most potential in F1, but wasn’t given enough time to show that, as former McLaren driver, Stoffel Vandoorne.

Jacques started commentating on the second tier of FIA-governed single-seater racing during 2015, the same year Vandoorne won the title with ART Grand Prix.

“The first driver I commentated on at an F2 level, or GP2 as it was back then, was Stoffel Vandoorne, who dominated the championship,” started Jacques.

“He’d finished second in the season before, and then first year I was behind the microphone, he just dominated; he was obviously going to be the champion.

“And it’s the timing of getting to McLaren, because obviously, if you’re a McLaren junior driver this year and you get through and you get in, you’ve got a chance to win every week. He didn’t have that chance a decade ago.”

At the time of Vandoorne’s stint with McLaren, the Woking-based racing outfit was in one of its worst eras of F1. A far cry from the double world championships McLaren are on course for in 2025.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Stoffel Vandoorne went on to enjoy success in other single-seater categories, namely Formula E

After two seasons with McLaren largely spent as a backmarker, the team decided to make a change for the 2019 season, which saw Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso depart the team in favour of the inbound Carlos Sainz and rookie Lando Norris.

Since then, McLaren has worked their way up the pecking order of the constructors’ championship to the very top spot, with their 2024 feat being the first constructors’ title for the team since 1999.

“It’s a great shame because I think his overall level was very, very high,” Jacques continued. “But sometimes you can be at the right place at the wrong time.

“I think Stoffel could easily have had a, I don’t know, ultimately, where his top level was, but I think he was worthy of a much longer Formula 1 career than he got.

“He’s gone on to have success in Formula E and be a very, very good driver. But yeah, I expected him to have a much longer Formula 1 career than he got. He just ended up, yeah, right place, wrong time.”

Upon joining Mercedes as a development driver in 2019, Vandoorne was given the opportunity to race for the German constructors’ Formula E team.

After coming close to the title in the 2019/20 season, Vandoorne managed to win it all in 2021/22, beating former F1 drivers such as Sebastian Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne and Lucas di Grassi on the way.

Vandoorne currently still competes in the Formula E world championship, albeit with a different team in Maserati. The Belgian driver also competes in the World Endurance Championship with Peugeot, where he has tried his hand at winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.