De Vries and Vandoorne won’t stay when Mercedes Formula E team becomes McLaren

Formula E

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McLaren’s Formula E team will have an all-new driver line-up when it takes over Mercedes’ entry at the end of the season.

Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries have been the team’s drivers since Mercedes entered the series in 2019. Vandoorne leads the standings and De Vries is the reigning champion.

However both will move on at the end of the season when the team morphs into McLaren’s new Formula E entry. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown confirmed the team will have a new driver line-up speaking to RaceFans and other media at the team’s headquarters today.

The team has already announced one of its two Formula E seats next year may be filled by Felix Rosenqvist. He already drives for their IndyCar team, but his past success in Formula E makes him a candidate for a seat in the all-electric series as well.

Brown said the decision where to place Rosenqvist will be influenced by the availability of other drivers in both series.

“Ultimately, we’re trying to put the best driver line-ups across all of our racing activities,” he explained. “We’re expanding to the three cars in IndyCar. Felix is unique in he’s won in IndyCar and he’s won in Formula E so he can race in either.

“So it’s really dependent upon either who our other IndyCar driver is or who our other Formula E driver is, that we’ll then go ‘this is the best line-ups we can put together across our Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E’.

“That’s why we’re undecided yet where we want to put him. It’s really based upon what’s the best line-ups we can put together across that.”

Brown said the team’s approach of signing Rosenqvist with the option of running him in various series wasn’t a model they would necessarily apply to other drivers.

“It’ll be on a case by case basis,” he said. “It made sense with the current situation we’re in now and Felix being able to win in both both series.

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a way forward, it’s just an option based on who the driver is and what series we’re in and where we might have openings.”

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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19 comments on “De Vries and Vandoorne won’t stay when Mercedes Formula E team becomes McLaren”

  1. Coventry Climax
    27th June 2022, 17:26

    Technically correct, but a somewhat strange title, guys.

    1. Coventry Climax
      27th June 2022, 17:30

      Subtitle.

      1. Coventry Climax
        27th June 2022, 23:50

        OK, repaired.

  2. Daniel Ricciardo to Formula E confirmed?

    1. McLaren 2023 = Ricciardo to Indycar, Rosenqvist to FE, O’Ward/Herta to F1

    2. @webtel No, he’ll certainly see out his 3-year deal.

      1. It seems he had a 2+1 so you can’t say he will serve his full contract out if he doesn’t met some conditions.

        1. @macleod Straight 3-year deal based on his words or how they’re interpretable.

          1. Everyone thought he had a 3 year contract but Daniel began himself over the third year so it’s a option.

  3. so Mclaren just wants to participate in all the categories and win none of them at a championship level..
    its now a corporate balance sheet line item.. nothing wrong,, but just goes to show what it takes to win at the highest levels.. aka Ron Dennis way. focused on one goal

    1. How do you derive that from this article?

  4. They are dead weight anyway. A team”s success in FE is down to other factors.

  5. Didn’t they both come through the McLaren young driver programme? I’m sure I even remember De Vries appearing briefly in one of their Tooned cartoons!

    Maybe Zak doesn’t want the ‘new’ McLaren to be associated with the era that immediately preceded it?

    1. Or maybe de Vries and Vandoorne are employed by Mercedes, and have indicated they have no desire to cut those ties. Instead of renting them in to McLaren, the papayas will hire their own drivers. Felix is almost certain to appear, and guys like Oliver Askew and maybe even Hinchcliffe could be in a position to fill that 2nd seat.

  6. Well De Vries is going to Williams…so presumably Vandoorne will be looking for another FE drive at the moment.

    1. @geemac Not De Vries anymore, but Piastri.

      1. Is that only if Williams take Renault engines otherwise expect de Vries in the car. Rumours are fine but cash talks……

        1. @macleod With or without Renault PU, from my understanding, albeit the rumored Renault power return is unlikely in the end.
          More or less, all indications & references point towards Piastri replacing Latifi, so assuming is pretty safe since this equation seems very likely & only a matter of time before becoming formal.

      2. @jerejj You are right, not sure how that slipped my mind.

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