Laurens van Hoepen returned to the Formula 2 (F2) podium at the 2026 Hungarian GP, giving Trident another important result in the Budapest Sprint Race.
The Dutch driver finished third behind race winner Gabriele Minì and Dino Beganovic after a race shaped by tyre management, patience and a late incident between Sebastian Montoya and Nikola Tsolov. Montoya and Tsolov collided while fighting near the front, promoting van Hoepen into the podium places before he held on to secure his third podium of the season.
Speaking to the media after the Sprint Race, including Pit Debrief, van Hoepen said the result felt important after a difficult weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Yeah, it feels good. I mean, it’s been a while since the second one. So to come back after a tough, tough weekend in Spa, so it feels very nice.”
Van Hoepen manages thin tyre window
The Hungaroring gave drivers little room to push beyond the tyre’s limit. While van Hoepen initially believed he had saved enough to attack late in the F2 Sprint Race at the 2026 Hungarian GP, he quickly realised how narrow the operating window remained.
“At the beginning, I thought so. I was saving so much in the beginning of the race and I really thought that I would be able to attack in the end of the race. But then as soon as you go a bit over the limit of the tyre, you lose a lot of grip. So it was really important to stay in the right window because otherwise it’s really tricky.”
That balance became one of the key themes of the race. Minì also managed his tyres before attacking for the lead, while van Hoepen focused on keeping enough grip to protect the podium in the closing stages.
Trident’s strength comes from adaptation
Van Hoepen’s podium also continued Trident’s improved 2026 form. The team has looked more competitive this season, and Van Hoepen pointed to its ability to understand sessions and react quickly as one of its biggest strengths.
“It’s difficult to say. I think we just know each other now. We understand what’s needed after a session and we’re always able to adapt nicely when a session hasn’t gone our way.”
“We always are able to bounce back well and I think that’s a very strong point. So we learn each time we go out on the track and I think we made good use of that.”
That ability mattered in Budapest. Van Hoepen did not have the outright pace to chase Minì or Beganovic late on, but Trident still gave him the platform to stay in contention and capitalise when trouble hit ahead.
Patience key at the Hungaroring
The middle phase of the Sprint Race turned into a tyre-saving exercise for much of the field. Van Hoepen said the line between pushing for an overtake and damaging the tyres remained extremely small.
“The line is very thin here, which makes it very tricky. And then you need a lot of overpace to be able to overtake on this track.”
“So then as soon as you are trying to overtake, you ask a lot of your tyres and then you start to slide. And just everything that you do that’s over the line, that just hurts you in the end of the race. So yeah, you really have to keep your head on this track and be patient is the main point here.”
That patience helped him convert the opportunity when Montoya and Tsolov dropped out. Instead of overusing the tyres early, van Hoepen stayed in the fight long enough to benefit from the race coming back towards him.
Feature Race potential from P6
When Pit Debrief asked how much of Saturday’s performance could realistically carry into the Feature Race, given the different starting positions and mandatory pit stop, van Hoepen said the Sprint result still provided useful confidence.
“I mean, quite a big part of it. I think if you’re quick today, it also gives some good confidence for tomorrow and it gives you less to change for tomorrow. Of course, I think for us, starting from P6 tomorrow, we are fully focused on that race from now on.”
“I think there’s definitely some potential to do well in that race as well. And even though we were not the quickest today, we kind of know already some bits and places to improve. So yeah, if you’re quick today, definitely helps confidence-wise for tomorrow [Feature Race] as well.”
That leaves van Hoepen with another opportunity to score heavily before F2 leaves Budapest. Trident already has a podium from the Sprint Race, and Van Hoepen believes the team has enough information to improve for Sunday.
After a tough Spa weekend, Budapest has already delivered a response. Now van Hoepen needs to turn that renewed confidence into another strong Feature Race result.
