About Stoffel Vandoorne
Stoffel Jacques Luc Vandoorne (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɔfəl vɑnˈdoːr(ə)n]; born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot and serves as a test and reserve driver for Aston Martin in Formula One. In formula racing, Vandoorne competed in Formula One from 2016 to 2018, and won the 2021–22 Formula E World Championship with Mercedes. He competed further in Formula E with DS Penske in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons and Maserati in the 2024-25 season. Born in and raised in Roeselare in West Flanders, Vandoorne began karting aged six. Despite struggling with a lack of funding, Vandoorne achieved success in national and international competition, progressing to junior formulae in 2010. He won his first championship at the 2010 F4 Eurocup with the FFSA Academy, then progressing to Formula Renault, where he won the Eurocup in 2012 and finished runner-up to Kevin Magnussen in the 3.5 Series in 2013. Vandoorne graduated to the GP2 Series with ART in 2014, finishing runner-up to Jolyon Palmer in his rookie season. The following season, he won the championship in record-breaking fashion with seven victories and 16 podiums from 21 starts. A member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme since 2013, Vandoorne made his Formula One debut with McLaren at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, substituting for an injured Fernando Alonso and scoring his maiden points finish after outqualifying teammate Jenson Button. He partnered Alonso as a full-time driver in 2017, scoring several points finishes across two full seasons before being released at the end of 2018; he has since served as a reserve driver for McLaren, Mercedes, Racing Point and Aston Martin. Vandoorne moved into Formula E for the 2018–19 season with HWA. Despite the Venturi powertrains' relative lack of performance, Vandoorne achieved his maiden pole position at the Hong Kong ePrix. Vandoorne retained his seat at the newly-formed Mercedes team in 2019–20, finishing runner-up to António Félix da Costa after taking his maiden win at race six of the Berlin ePrix. Vandoorne entered sportscar racing in 2021, finishing runner-up in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with Jota. In his third season with Mercedes in Formula E, Vandoorne won the World Championship after scoring eight podium finishes, including a win at the Monaco ePrix. He moved to DS Penske for 2022–23, but was unable to defend his title and left after two winless seasons to join Maserati. Vandoorne joined the Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar project in 2023, making his premier class WEC debut at the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.