ART Grand Prix’s Lauren van Hoepen finally delivered a solid result after a slow start to his 2025 season, securing a P3 finish in the Sprint Race at the F3 Monaco GP. Having qualified P10 overall, the Dutch driver started P3 for the Sprint Race. Taking home his first podium of the season, van Hoepen walked away with 8 valuable points to his championship tally. The Dutch driver and ART have endured a challenging start to their season. Now P18 in the Drivers Standings, his P3 finish marked the ART driver’s second points finish of the year—after scoring his first point of the season during the Imola Feature Race last week.
During the Post-Sprint Press Conference, van Hoepen spoke to Pit Debrief and other media outlets as he reflected on his performance and how he plans to bring this momentum forward.
“Feels good” after Qualifying disappointment
Last year, van Hoepen claimed three podiums in his rookie season, including one in Monaco. Replicating the results from last year, the Dutch driver claimed his spot on the podium in P3 once again. On Friday, Qualifying did not go van Hoepen’s way as he explained the disappointment that came with it. However, looking at the positives, van Hoepen shared that all focus was on capitalising where he was starting from today.
“Yeah, it feels good. Obviously, I was a bit disappointed after yesterday’s qualifying. Yeah, I wanted to go for pole in our group at least.”
“So then not to get that. At least it gave us a good starting position for today and we capitalised on that. I think the start wasn’t great but after that we managed to race and stayed where we were.”
Throughout the race, the Dutch driver had MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti close behind as he matched the pace of the top three. Rather than defending from Giusti, van Hoepen admitted he considered making a move on his teammate Tuukka Taponen a few times. But, the Dutch driver ultimately decided to hold his position, knowing how difficult overtaking is around Monaco.
“Never really had to defend. I thought about the move a couple of times but it’s just so hard to make a pass around here. In the end, I thought better of it and just tried to stay close. There was a mistake at some point but that never came. Just stayed where I was.”
More performance and results to find
In 2025, van Hoepen endured a long wait for his first points. After a promising rookie season, the ART driver was not anticipating such a challenging second year. While he acknowledged there’s still more to unlock, van Hoepen is not settling for a Sprint Race podium—confident he can aim even higher out next time out in Barcelona.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s been a really tough start so far. It’s still some more to do because being on the Sprint Race podium is not the podium I want to be on. But we’re working step by step and then hopefully in Barcelona we can make another step forward and work from there.”
How do drivers practice for race starts?
When asked about practising race starts, van Hoepen echoed Taponen’s point. Stressing that while reaction training helps, having a well-optimised clutch map is key to strong race starts.
“Yeah, so as Tuukka [Taponen] said in the off-season you can do stuff for your reaction time but apart from that it’s really important that you have especially a good clutch map.”
van Hoepen explained that choosing the correct clutch map based on a track’s condition is key. Highlighting that reading grip levels during the formation lap helps decide how you approach a race start—something the Dutch driver felt went well today.
“So you really like work on that and try to know which one you have to use at which conditions, so you really try to feel like in the formation lap how much grip there is on track so you know for the actual start what you have to do and it’s not always that easy but today was okay.”
Respect and pressures that comes with success at Monaco
Van Hoepen acknowledged that success at the Monaco GP is special due to the event’s prestige. Regardless of the venue, the ART driver claimed that success in Monaco is no different than on any other track.
“Well, I feel like success everywhere is the main thing, not necessarily Monaco.”
“It’s good to go well in Monaco because it’s just a really cool event but it doesn’t change that you want to win Monaco just because it’s insane, but then it doesn’t change you want to win all races.”
Believing that if he repeats good results again, the Dutch driver said a driver would earn just as much as respect as if they were to succeed in Monaco.
“So I feel like for Barcelona I know again I feel like if you do a good race again you earn as much respect.”
Risk versus reward around Monaco
When asked by Pit Debrief about how drivers balance risks versus reward around a track like Monaco, van Hoepen believes focus is key to navigating Monaco. The Dutch driver explained how being in a podium position is simply not worth any risks, so the focus would remain on finishing the race.
“Yeah, like they said, I mean focus is super important around this track and I mean you really want to win this race or at least make up some position when you’re in P3.”
“But then also you’re in a good position, you’re on the podium already so you’re like you’re not taking the most amount of risk because in the end you only get one point which is not crazy and then you just want to finish.”
van Hoepen added: “But yeah, it’s still important to keep the focus because the race is long and as soon as you lose a bit of focus I guess some bad things can happen.”
Any risks worth during the Feature tomorrow?
Starting P9 tomorrow, van Hoepen knows there’s a chance to fight for more points. At a track where overtaking is difficult, the ART driver knows his launch off the line will be important. Recalling his performance from 2024, the Dutch driver knows progressing through the field is possible.
“Yes so I’m starting P9 so I’m in the points already but for sure the aim is to move up a bit. I think like Tuukka [Taponen] said in the start it’s just half of the work already but last year during the Feature Race I think I was moving up quite well.”
“So it’s definitely possible to bust a bit around here so I’m not going to give up after the start. Yeah we’ll just see how it goes.”, van Hoepen said.
Finding confidence and momentum after first 2025 podium
In his second F3 season, the Dutch driver knows what he needs to do in order to deliver results. Now with 9 points to his name, van Hoepen believes this podium has fuelled him with confidence. Although he knows a P3 in the Sprint Race shouldn’t be fully satisfying, the ART driver admitted that a strong result always boosts a driver’s motivation.
“Yes so I think it’s always nice to be on the podium, it always gives you a bit of extra confidence.”
van Hoepen added: “It’s the Sprint Race so I mean it’s not like you were the quickest yesterday but for sure it’s motivating and it pushes you to work harder for the next rounds to be able to stand on the podium on Sunday.”
Past success at Monaco and preparation
The Dutch driver has found success around the streets of Monaco in the past—scoring his first Formula Regional points here back in 2022. When asked about his past success and preparation process headed into a weekend like Monaco, he explained his preparation remains the same.
“No there’s nothing really different in preparation. I mean we used to say like always it’s just that yeah I know this track suits me well. Not really something special.”
van Hoepen admitted that Monaco suits his driving style well and that there was nothing unusual about his performance around here—explaining he simply enjoys Monaco and finds it consistently fun every year.
“I just like the track but yeah I like all kind of tracks so it’s just yeah it’s just been going well with this year and yeah every other year as well, so I don’t know it’s nothing really out of the box but I just like it it’s just fun.”
ART’s difficult start to 2025
Acknowledging their tough start to 2025, van Hoepen knows there is more performance to find in order to bring the fight to front-running teams. Despite finding late-season pace in 2024, the Dutch driver knows the results ultimately did not go their way.
“Yeah, I think this year has been a way harder start for me than last year where I was a rookie.”
van Hoepen added: “I think even at the end of last year we were really fighting for wins not always the result that came with it but the speed was always there and this year we’ve just been struggling with certain things and we just need to work to close the gap to, for example a team like Trident but we’re working hard and I’ve got the confidence that we can catch up.”
More overtaking today but why?
In response to a question from Pit Debrief about the surprising amount of overtaking, van Hoepen, Taponen and Stenshorne weren’t entirely sure why—but suggested that the smaller size of their cars was likely why there had been more overtaking.
“Yeah like Martinius [Stenshorne] said I haven’t watched the race back so I’m not pretty sure how much overtaking that was.”
“But yeah, like an F1 car this car is way smaller so it’s just easier I guess to find a little gap around here and to make it work.”
For the first time this year, the ART driver found himself fighting at the front. An encouraging boost that highlighted his pace and areas to improve, van Hoepen knows his performance today showcased his potential.
“Well it’s just that for the first time I’ve been actually fighting in the front this year which is nice because it’s been a while so that’s just always helpful to bring out some pace and to see where you’re lacking. Monaco efficiency is a very particular track but yeah it was a good experience.”
