Many within the Formula One community are well aware of the young Belgian setting the GP2 series alight this season.
Stoffel Vandoorne is a part of the famed McLaren Young Driver Programme, and has been since February 2013. The very same academy which produced the likes of Kevin Magnussen and reigning F1 champ Lewis Hamilton.
Born on 26 March 1992, in Kortrijk, Belgium, roughly 146 miles from the venue of this weekend's race at Spa-Francorchamps, Vandoorne has enjoyed a meteoric rise in his career to date.
Vandoorne's Career So Far
His motorsport career began in 1998 when he took up karting and won the Belgian KF2 Championship ten years later. 2010 was his first year in single seater racing, in the F4 Eurocup series. The 23-year-old won the title at his first attempt, with six wins and three podiums.
Vandoorne then progressed to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series for 2011, with the KTR team. There he finished fifth, with a solitary podium at Hungary. He continued in the series in 2012, however the Belgian switched to the Kaufmann team, where he finally won the title.
Interestingly his title rival that year was Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat. The pair won 11 of the 14 races that season, with Vandoorne picking up four of them with six podiums. 100 points separated Kvyat, Vandoorne and the rest of the pack at the end of the season.
Stoffel has shown what he can do against a man who is deemed good enough for Formula One in Kvyat, so why wouldn't Vandoorne excel in the top tier too?
Kvyat has had a relatively strong start to his career at the top table, with a strong debut season at Toro Rosso seeing him promoted to the Red Bull team for 2015. He secured his first podium last time out at the madcap Hungarian Grand Prix too, with second place.
The title win in 2012 caught the attention of F1 legends McLaren, who signed him up to their youth programme in 2013. Vandoorne also secured a seat with Fortec Motorsport in the Formula Renault 3.5 series. A known breeding ground for F1 stars, Vandoorne excelled here too.
Ironically it was another McLaren protege who won the title that season, in Kevin Magnussen. The Dane, son of former Formula One driver Jan, won the championship with Vandoorne finishing runner up with four wins and ten podiums. This included a win at his home track of Spa.
Continuing his quick rise up the junior formulae, Vandoorne then joined the GP2 series, in essence the final step before Formula One. He again showed his huge potential by finishing runner up to Jolyon Palmer in his first year.
As it stands, he currently has eight wins from 34 starts with ART Grand Prix and only continues to boost his already huge credentials. In 2015 he is running away with the title, leading by 85 points from Rio Haryanto. A drive in the pinnacle of motorsport surely beckons?
Why McLaren Should Promote Vandoorne
There have been unconfirmed rumours Vandoorne is to join McLaren next season, with Jenson Button being the one to make way. Should this be the case, he would be the ideal person for the Woking team.
This is because he will partner Fernando Alonso, and while this is a daunting prospect for any driver, Vandoorne would compliment Alonso perfectly. Stoffel has proven he's a very consistent driver, looking at his results in the junior formulae.
Alonso has forged a career for himself in being consistent, and is thought of by some, myself included, to be the finest driver since the end of the Michael Schumacher era in 2004.
At Ferrari he rarely retired from a race, and if he did it was down to the car breaking down on him, rather than a driver error.
Vandoorne has similar qualities and also has the gift of youth on his side. At 23, he is at the perfect age to enter F1.
The seat, should McLaren decide to vacate it, is surely between Vandoorne and 2013 Formula Renault rival Magnussen. The Dane has a season of F1 experience under his belt in 2014, and was unlucky to lose out in the race for a 2015 seat.
With Vandoorne's age being taken into consideration, he is surely the future of McLaren, why invest in placing him in the young drivers programme if you aren't willing to promote him? After all, he could become the face of McLaren for the coming years.
Think about it, McLaren tend to be a team who stick by their drivers, barring a few exceptions. They always have had a long term 'poster boy', so to speak. Be it Emmerson Fittipaldi or James Hunt in the 70's, Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost in the 80's, Mika Hakkinen or David Coulthard in the 90's/00's, and more recently Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button.
The exceptions include drivers like Heikki Kovalainen or Sergio Perez, who were by all accounts great drivers, but they took the leap from mid-table to front of the grid too quickly. However, Stoffel has the qualities needed to create the ultimate McLaren driver formula.
He's humble, quick, and not afraid to make a daring move, which also touts him as a possible world champion, should McLaren and Honda manage to fix their teething problems and get back to where McLaren deserve to be.
Talented Belgian Has A Future In F1
Another option for Stoffel is that McLaren could pay a team to give him a drive. Red Bull did this in 2011 as they paid HRT to give Daniel Ricciardo a drive, which saw him take his first steps to the top.
McLaren could pay someone such as the new HAAS team, or send him to a team such as Lotus who are competitive, need financial backing, and will give Vandoorne the stage he needs to show he has what it takes.
The worrying thing for Vandoorne is that winning the GP2 title means he can't return to the series and the last three champions have failed to break into an F1 seat. The last was Romain Grosjean in 2012, with Davide Valsecchi, Fabio Leimer and Jolyon Palmer all enjoying reserve driver roles but no permanent seat as of yet.
However, going back to the point of McLaren's future, if they chose Magnussen to replace Button, should he leave, they would likely try to keep Vandoorne with the team until Alonso's three year deal is over.
This would undoubtedly be too long for Stoffel to wait, and he should ideally be within F1 by then.
Vandoorne Should Be Given His Chance
From a personal point, I believe Vandoorne should be given his chance. 'K-Mag' had a season in F1 and performed admirably, but it's unfair of Stoffel not to give him that same opportunity.
He's shown he has talent, winning every championship series he's been in so far - with the GP2 title surely a formality - so he's an ideal candidate for McLaren.
Jenson Button is a Formula One legend, no doubt about it, but should he and McLaren decide to part ways, there's not many more suited than Vandoorne.
"Pushing As Hard As I Can"
It's all fine and well claiming Vandoorne is ready for the big time, but what does the man himself think? When asked by Sky Sports, the Belgian said that "winning GP2 would prove I'm ready for Formula One." He went on to add that "I am aware that even if I win GP2 it is not a guarantee that I get to Formula One, but I am pushing as hard as I can to get there."
However Vandoorne did concede that "nothing is decided for next year." He spoke about how he's in regular contact with bosses Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier about his future so things look encouraging for the 23 year old.
Formula One hasn't had a Belgian in the sport since Jerome D'Ambrosio a couple of years ago, with the last Belgian winner being Thierry Boutsen in the early 90's. Jacky Ickx is arguably the most famous Belgian in F1 to date, can Vandoorne follow in his legendary footsteps?