After winning the GP2 Championship in 2015, Stoffel Vandoorne was tipped to become the next Formula 1 star. However, running for the uncompetitive McLaren nearly ended his single-seater career. The Belgian found a new home in Formula E, driving for the Mercedes-Benz works team. He scored a podium in his first season, won two races since then and entered the 2020/2021 season finale as a championship contender. Before the final two races, he spoke with ŚwiatWyścigów.pl’s Roksana Ćwik.
Stoffel, you are one of the 18 drivers who can win the World Championship. How do you feel with that?
There’s a lot of people that can still win the championship. That's for sure. To come to the last two races and still have the opportunity is a good feeling. I think compared to last season we are probably closer – last year we had António [Félix da Costa] that was kind of running away with it, but this year is a very different season. Many people are still in contention and it's going to go probably down to the last race to figure out who's you know who's going to win the championship.
Obviously losing out on a good result in London really hurt my chances a little bit, that's what I what I feel and I'm a little bit on the back foot, let's say, but you know, it's not over until it's over. Formally E is sometimes providing some crazy races and unexpected things happen so I'm going to give it everything this weekend and then we see where that puts us.
You mentioned London. What do you think about the track?
It was a very different circuit, very tiny with a lot of very small corners and for energy management it was one of the easiest circuits. So that's why the racing in the end was different and it was very hard to avoid contact because we didn't have the amount of energy saving that we used to do on a circuit like here for example in Berlin. So, the approach was quite different, let's say and made it maybe a little bit harder for overtaking.
You got a pole position and a race win in Rome. Describe that weekend in few words.
Rome has always been quite a good weekend for me. In the first season that I joined Formula E I had my first podium there and obviously this year I had a pole position and a victory there. It's a track I really enjoy. I really like.
It was kind of a weekend with mixed feelings because the first day we had the crash, obviously, and then on the second day I managed to recover and win the race. So that was a was a good feeling and yeah was one of our or better weekends obviously.
This year we see a lot of crashes during the races. Do you think that drivers are more aggressive than in past years?
I don't know if they are more aggressive but for sure, it's getting sometimes a little bit crazy with the amount of touching and the amount of bodywork that is flying around. One of the things is that the overtaking is getting very hard, everyone is getting very competitive, and the cars are very strong, so I think that makes we feel like we can afford to touch with each other without risking too much. If we lose a bit of bodywork, it's not necessarily going to cost us that much performance, which is very different to Formula One where if you touch and lose a bit of bodywork, your race is almost over.
How important are the bonus points for qualifying?
I think every point in Formula E is important. Qualifying is important but obviously the main one is the race win. It's nice to have these bonus points if you can get them in qualifying, but the big ones are the ones you can't miss.
You won here last year. Do you like the circuit?
I do like the circuit. It's one of my favourites I would say. So yeah, I'm looking forward to the weekend. We've been competitive here last season, even in season five, so there's plenty of things to look forward to, but so you know, I expect the others to be very, very competitive also, because last year we did six races here in Berlin. They were on a different layout as well but the two layouts that we are racing we've done two days on last season, so everyone has a lot of data and information available. So, I think everyone will be very close.
What do you think about running the reverse layout on the second day?
It's fine. We've done it last year to run the reverse layout. I think it's good that when we do two races in the weekend that we change it up a little bit. Otherwise, on the second day everyone kind of learns a little bit more and understands things a bit more. So now it's kind of a bit more of a reset from day one to day two.
If you could help Nyck win the championship, would you?
You know, at the moment I have the chance myself too to win, so as long as I can win myself, I'm going to give it 100% and I don't want to make too many calculations during the race. Because Formula E is so unpredictable that it's not a guarantee if I give him a position or this or that, or that that he will win the championship. For sure, he's in a good position to do it but as long as the chance is there for me to do it, I don't think there's any need to give any favours.
What is the biggest difference between F1 and FE?
A lot of things are different. The whole championship is completely different. We're obviously racing on street circuits all the time, the cars are fully electric, the way of racing with the energy management is completely different.
They're not comparable, I would say. Formula 1 cars are still the fastest cars, and they have a lot of grip and a lot of downforce compared to the Formula E cars. But Formula E is equally very challenging with the tyres, the circuits we are racing on, the way the cars behave. It's a different league.
If we are talking about the power and battery, what is your opinion on the first race in Valencia?
Well, a lot of people complained about Valencia, but in fairness all those that complained they got it wrong, and they made a mistake which they don’t, or they didn't admit. We did our preparation before the weekend, and we knew that there was a slight chance that the last few laps of the race could be extremely challenging with the energy management, and we survived, but some other teams were just not prepared and made a mistake and ran out of energy because they simply didn't think it was possible and then it happened.
I'm sure it didn't look good on TV with cars running out and stuff like that and for sure, that's something we need to avoid in the future. But at the same time, it was something in the regulations that was possible. They changed that now, and that day we took advantage of it.
You are also working with Formula One team with Mercedes with Nyck. What is your role and were you disappointed when you had a chance to replace Lewis Hamilton when he was sick, and George Russell got the call instead?
We're splitting the reserve role with Nick, so we're doing about 10 races each, just to split up a little bit. Because last season I did all the races and that was kind of a bit too crazy to travel to all of them and still do the Formula E programme as well. So, it took a lot of a lot of energy, but this year is a little bit better with splitting it up.
Regarding the Lewis story, I wasn’t disappointed. Yes, I was pissed off because I really wanted to race, which is normal because I'm a racing driver, but at the same time I understood their decision to put George in the car to evaluate him for the future and to see how he compared against Valtteri. I know the situation, so it's never a guarantee. Even when you're a reserve driver, it's never a guarantee that you're actually going to race a car.
Do you think sometimes about returning to Formula One?
I'm mainly focused on Formula E, to be honest. I'm happy to still be involved with Mercedes in Formula One, to be doing work in the simulator for them, to travel to the races as a reserve driver, but at the end of the day this is where I'm racing. It's Formula E and I'm focusing on that, so that’s the main thing for me.
After Berlin you will be racing in Le Mans. Why is there so many much crossover between Formula E and endurance drivers?
I think a lot of drivers just like to be engaged in both. I think if you can do both, it's kind of a perfect world because you have the very competitive Formula E championship, kind of single seater racing where you're alone in the car and driving for your own result and then you have the endurance side which you are sharing with teammates. You know some fast cars as well, long distance races, so we kind of get best from both worlds.
What is the most crucial moment at Le Mans?
I think the whole race is important, to be fair. In LMP2 there's so many competitive cars, it's going to be almost like a sprint race. I think there's probably more time to be lost during the night then there is during the day. But you know, you just got to stay out of trouble in that race stay in contention until the end.
I want to also ask about McLaren. Was it really the most difficult time in your career?
I think when I was at McLaren, it was probably during the worst time. Let's say the timing of me being there was not a good one simply because the car was probably one of the worst it had been in the history of McLaren. So yeah, I think it was a bit wrong place at wrong time.
And how was how was working with Fernando?
Working with Fernando was great. He's obviously one of the best drivers in the world, double world champion in Formula One. So, he was a, you know a very good reference for me.
