Photo: Trident
Fourth-year Formula 2 driver Richard Verschoor aimed to contribute with his experience and feedback in his return to Trident this season.
The Dutchman debuted in F2 with MP Motorsport in 2021. He switched to Charouz Racing System for theat year’s season finale, then joined Trident in 2022. His sophomore season began with a win and although he finished second in three other races and scored 103 points he slumped to 12th in the standings and moved to Van Amersfoort Racing for 2023.
His first feature race win came last year, and two other podiums helped him to 108 points and put him ninth in the standings.
The momentum has not quite continued in his 2024 return to Trident, as he has 12 points from six races after being disqualified from sprint race victory in Jeddah due to the team using an incorrect throttle pedal progressivity map. That is the second win he has been disqualified from as a Trident driver, with the failure to provide the required fuel sample costing him the 2022 Red Bull Ring feature race.
“I think you gain experience in many ways,” Verschoor said of his F2 career to Formula Scout during the recent in-season test.
“F2 is a very difficult championship. I think my road to F2 has not been so easy. I think I always had to fight to be in F2 very, very hard. I always struggled to get the budget. And for me, that’s also reason to stay a bit longer in F2. Because I never really had the opportunity to test a lot, to drive a lot to improve myself as a driver.
“I’m very happy to be here and I feel like I have gained a lot of experience in terms also to set up a car. That’s why I’m happy to be back with Trident. I know I can work well with all the engineers inside the team to build a car around myself, which I know that I can drive very fast.
“I knew with which people I was going to work, so that was a good motivation for me to come back. And I always felt at home in 2022.”
Verschoor failed to score in the season opener at Bahrain but is pleased with the progress he and Trident had made since. Following his short-lived win, he finished eighth in the Jeddah feature race and then sixth in Melbourne’s feature race.
The 23-year-old is “very confident” there is more to come as long as he continues to have strong qualifying sessions.
“We had so far two qualifyings in the top 10, which we have to keep doing. Last one was in Melbourne in P3. So I would suggest I keep that going.”