Ron Dennis: Vandoorne must be ready in 2017

Rumors Jenson Button's retirement during 2015 had logically placed the Belgian Stoffel vandoorne on the list of potential replacements for the 2009 World Champion at McLaren, before the Briton and the Woking team formalized the extension of their association for 2016.

GP2 Series winner in the process, Stoffel Vandoorne headed to Japan for the 2016 season, committing to the very tough Super Formula within DOCOMO Team Dandelion Racing, whose car is powered by Honda.

A season to perfect your learning before possibly starting in F1 in 2017. Ron Dennis, boss of McLaren, believes that his protégé must be ready for this eventuality.

“The Super Formula cars are fast and have a lot of grip, and Stoffel will be competing against ex-Formula One drivers, such as Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima, Narain Karthikeyan and André Lotterer. It should behave well, Dennis said. on the F1 website.

His progression towards Formula One has been very carefully considered, as is always the case with members of the McLaren Young Driver Program, and we expect him to be ready in 2017.”

Vandoorne disputed the first official tests of the Super Formula at the start of the week on the Suzuka track.