Vandoorne named as Mercedes F1 reserve

Stoffel Vandoorne

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team has named Stoffel Vandoorne, its Formula E championship leader, as a reserve driver for the 2020 Formula 1 season.

A release from the team states that Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez will “shar(e) reserve driver duties on the race weekends”.

The former’s appointment comes after Esteban Ocon left the German marque, where he had fulfilled reserve duties, to race for Renault from 2020.

Vandoorne last raced in F1 in 2018 with McLaren, before landing at HWA Racelab, Mercedes’ forerunner in Formula E, for the 2018/19 season of the all-electric championship.

The Belgian currently tops the table for the factory Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team despite finishes of third, third, and sixth so far in 2019/20.

As it stands, there are three clashes between Formula E and F1, namely Rome with the Vietnamese Grand Prix, Seoul with the Dutch Grand Prix, and Jakarta with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.