Formula E news: Bird gives Vandoorne verdict and says F1 is threatened by electric series
STOFFEL VANDOORNE has been labelled as a world class driver by Formula E ace Sam Bird, despite the former McLaren protege failing to score any points so far this season.
Stoffel Vandoorne has been praised by fellow Formula E driver Sam Bird despite enduring a nightmare start to his career in the all-electric series.
Vandoorne made the switch from F1 to Formula E at the end of 2018, swapping McLaren for the HWA outfit who themselves were embarking on their first year in the championship.
Technical problems and on-track incidents have blighted the Belgian’s season so far, with Vandoorne failing to score any points while finishing just two of the four races.
However, Envision Virgin Racing star Bird has praised the level of competition in Formula E and Vandoorne in particular, saying: “The driver calibre is ridiculous.
“In F1 you’ve got Lewis [Hamilton] and Sebastian [Vettel], and a couple of others you could name that are maybe a little bit above everybody else, but I think you could chuck every single driver currently in FE into F1 and I think they would survive.
“Maybe history says that they haven’t for whatever reason, but there are perfectly good explanations as to why they didn’t.
“I don’t think Stoffel got a fair crack at it. I think he’s a world class driver and his CV says that.
“You would say that about Sebastian Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe [Massa] proved himself quite clearly. There’s 21 drivers there who could have had a big break and maybe didn’t get the chance.”
Vandoorne endured two difficult seasons at McLaren in an unreliable and sluggish car alongside two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
He scored 13 points to Alonso’s 17 in his first season but struggled in 2018 and has since revealed that his career suffered due to the Spaniard’s influence on the rest of the team.
Vandoorne had a stellar racing record before entering F1, winning championships in F4 Eurocup 1.6, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and GP2.
The competitive nature of Formula E, which has seen four different champions in its four seasons and four different race winners in 2018/19, has left his new HWA team lagging behind.
However, Vandoorne’s one-lap pace has been good when not troubled by mechanical issues and the Belgian will be hoping to notch his first points at Round Five in Hong Kong this weekend.
Meanwhile, Bird is currently third in the standings after picking up a race win in Santiago and the Brit believes Formula E has now emerged as a genuine threat to F1 due to its non-stop action – illustrated by a thrilling race in Mexico last time out.
“Formula E is in a very healthy place,” he said.
“I think that Formula E isn’t worried about Formula 1, but the other way round I think there is a little bit of concern that Formula E is getting the headlines but Formula 1 isn’t.
“FE needs to continue to grow, get faster, improve it’s technology and who knows what the future holds.
“Formula E is going in a great direction and its momentum is very good.”
The HKT Hong Kong ePrix is live on BBC2 on Sunday, March 10 from 7.30am (race starts at 8am).