McLaren would definitely consider Stoffel Vandoorne for IndyCar

Stoffel Vandoorne is a long-term contender for the third Arrow McLaren SP outing in the IndyCar series, confirmed Zak Brown.

Brown, McLaren’s CEO, stated in August that plans were underway to field a third car, “and ideally to fight for the championship,” ideally in 2022, if not 2023. That largely depended on whether the team is the right driver for Pato. would find O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist.

McLaren acquired a controlling stake this summer in the Indianapolis-based team, operated by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and supported by Arrow Electronics, which has won two of the 15 IndyCar races this year through O’Ward. He is second overall behind the elected champion Alex Palou, who is going into the last race of the campaign in Long Beach.

As for next year, Brown’s latest update is that the third car could appear in the middle of the season. He said some former McLaren F1 racers might be candidates to drive him, but it seems that age is a lot more on Vandoorne’s side than Juan Pablo Montoya’s.

The Colombian, who ended his Formula 1 career with a season and a half at McLaren in 2005/06, drove for the Arrow McLaren team in this year’s Indy500.

Vandoorne drove alongside Fernando Alonso when the Woking outfit was underperforming in 2017/18.

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“As soon as we get a third car, if that is not the beginning of the year, we will drive a third car [full time]”Said Brown, quoted by Autosport. “We won’t go in and out – once we go, we’ll go.

“We will definitely drive a third car in 2023, maybe we can do that sometime in ’22. Whenever that may be, we don’t have that in mind yet.

“A lot depends on the driver. If I can’t find a driver who I think has championship quality, we won’t be bringing a third car onto the market just for the championship’s sake.

“If we get the driver to where we say, ‘That’s it, that’s him,’ we’ll go.

“I want someone who has been able to sit in a car for five years to at least have this opportunity.

“Juan did a great job at Indy so I would love to drive him again, but whoever that third driver is, I want to see him in our car for five years.”

Montoya is 45 or more endurance racers today, so Vandoorne would have more longevity potential at 29 – and would be “definitely considered,” says Brown.

“I think he’s a very good racing driver,” said the Californian.