What is Fernando Alonso's misfortune has turned into a big opportunity for McLaren reserve Stoffel Vandoorne who will substitute for the Spaniard at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.
With Alonso failing a FIA medical test in the aftermath of his death defying accident at the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago, McLaren are forced to field their reserve for Round 2 of the F1 world championship.
McLaren said in a statement: "Following a decision by the FIA doctors, Fernando Alonso will not be participating in this weekend’s 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix. Following any on-track incident, we will always abide by the FIA doctors' decisions."
"As usual, McLaren Honda reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne will be on hand on Friday morning and will make his Formula 1 debut in place of Fernando," concluded the statement.
Belgian 24 year old Vandoorne will use number 47, which has been ratified by FIA, and will have Alonso on hand to help him with his debut weekend.
After a promising junior career in karting, Vandoorne started his single-seater journey in the 2010 F4 Eurocup winning the title, before progressing to Formula Renault for 2011.
Vandoorne finished third in the 2.0 NEC division, behind Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat, and ended up fifth in the Eurocup 2.0.
In 2012 Vandoorne beat Kvyat and claimed the Eurocup 2.0, which earned him a seat in Formula Renault 3.5 for 2013.
In his Formula Renault 3.5 debut with Fortec Motorsports Vandoorne scored an impressive victory and scored three more wins to finish runner-up to fellow McLaren protege Kevin Magnussen.
Vandoorne moved up to the GP2 Series with ART Grand Prix and claimed an emphatic victory in his first race in Bahrain. Thereafter he struggled briefly, and went on to win three more races to finish second in the championship - the highest placing for a rookie in several years.
For 2015 Vandoorne was the favourite for the title and delivered on expectations by claiming seven of the 11 GP2 Feature Race victories plus a further nine podiums. He clinched the title with two rounds to spare.
Having caught McLaren's attention, Vandoorne made his Formula 1 test debut in Barcelona during the 2014 season and followed it up with further outings at Silverstone and Abu Dhabi, where he had the honour of giving Honda's power unit its public debut.
Further outings followed in Austria and Abu Dhabi last year, while his most recent experience in McLaren machinery came at the wet tyre test in France in January.
McLaren's reserve driver as Vandoorne will now substitute for Alonso in Bahrain, before embarking on a season of Super Formula in Japan.
Full report on Alonso failing medical test here>>>
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