After a fantastic drive from the Dutch during Feature Race at the Saudi Arabian GP, Richard Verschoor claimed his place at the top of the standings. This perfect race that brought Verschoor his 5th victory in Formula 2 was won by using an alternative strategy. MP Motorsport decided to pit the 24-year-old late in order to ensure his position was defended, and the rest was great overtaking action towards P1.
Starting from P9 on the grid, Verschoor tackled the tricky Jeddah Corniche track conditions excellently. He kept his pace as fast as possible, putting out fast laps on 20-lap old tires. The fight for the F2 Drivers Championship is still tight, however, Richard Verschoor managed to put 12 points between himself and Josep Maria Martí. Moreover, separated by only 1 point from second place, Leonardo Fornaroli took up the third position for now.
The pros of being an MP driver
Richard Verschoor seemed to struggle with the car during the FP session on Friday at the Saudi Arabian GP. While he spoke up about his displeasure with the handling, the rest of his race weekend went incredibly well. During a post-feature press conference attended by Pit Debrief, the Dutch driver shared the benefits of being a part of such a team as MP Motorsport. He explained how they helped in terms of quick changes and adjustments. Not only that, but MP also showed their trust in Verschoor’s judgment:
“I think that’s exactly the reason and also what separates the good teams from the best. You know we did a lot of analysing after FP, looking where what went wrong, why I couldn’t push the car the way I wanted. We made a great step in qualifying already. Due to the red flag, I couldn’t show it, but still, we were in the top 10.”
“And then in the race, especially the sprint, they just gave me the perfect car. I was flying yesterday in the sprint, and then today I wasn’t really happy in the beginning, but in the end, the longer the race went on, the more the car came alive, basically. So yeah, very happy with the changes they made.”
“I’m happy that they let me do the prime option today because it was a bit of a discussion, but yeah, I’m just very happy and proud of them.”
Thoughts on Sprint Race penalty
During the Sprint Race at the Saudi Arabian GP, Richard Verschoor received a 5-second penalty for running another driver wide. This decision truly affected the rest of his race, causing him to lose the win. Nevertheless, that did not stop the Dutch from claiming their well-deserved victory during the Feature Race. Verschoor made it clear that he was over the whole incident. However, he decided to re-explain his point of view for a second time, emphasising his annoyance:
“Yeah, I stopped counting [the number of times he was “denied” a win], but I think there’s quite many at the moment.“
“To be fair, if you purely look at the rules, word by word, I would say they gave the right call. But what they also always say is that they are using a bit of common sense, you know. We are racing, racing for the lead. We are battling hard. Come on, it was not that I’ve completely pushed him into the wall or completely off track.“
Moreover, the MP Motorsport driver further analysed the moment he received the penalty for. He clarified the actual source for his indignation – the late call made by the stewards:
“When he overtook me, I backed off earlier. That’s why maybe it looked different, but I could have stayed around the outside and went off track as well. So, I mean in the end, it’s their decision, and I moved on. And that’s why I think the focus was also on today. And I was definitely not happy yesterday.
“And also what frustrated me the most was the timing that they gave the penalty because they gave it in lap 17 or 18, and I only had three laps.”
“Safety car, of course, made the penalty even harsher. But if they let’s say there was no safety car and they would have given me the penalty straight away, I would have pushed more during the race to make up a five-second gap. So that’s also something, of course, we spoke about, and in the end, they have the right to give me the penalty. I accepted it, but of course I didn’t like it”
Warm return to MP Motorsport
Although Verschoor felt like the penalty he received in the Sprint during the Saudi Arabian GP was quite unjust and frustrating, he did not let it get to him. The 24-year-old saw the incident as something that happens often during a Formula 1 race. While he felt like it should not have caused such an issue, Verschoor decided to close the topic:
“Yesterday was definitely frustrating because I’ve been in the position, in my view, a bit too often where I lose the win. Then, of course, you can argue I shouldn’t have lost the position in the first place, but I just felt like it was hard racing. So I didn’t feel like I did something wrong.”
“And if you look at Formula One, the way they have been racing, I think this should be fine, and I think they should let us race a bit more. But I think the topic is closed, and I think I used it as fuel today to push even more.”
At the same time, Richard Verschoor spoke about the switch back to MP Motorsport for the 2025 season. The driver started his Formula 2 career with MP, following their close relations from his two seasons in Formula 3. Yet, he quickly jumped at the wheel of many other teams, such as Charouz Racing System, Trident, and Van Amersfoort Racing.
Verschoor’s return to MP Motorsport has been good so far, but not without its setbacks. The Dutch underlined that there are still improvements to be made, and he believes the team can help him:
“The first few races have been good with MP. Better than expected? I don’t think so. I expect it to be better than last year, but there’s definitely still things to work on, and, as I said, in qualifying, I think I was fourth in Australia, sixth in Bahrain and now ninth. So I don’t want to keep that trend going up, but I think the ninth didn’t show our real performance.”
“So I think we’re in the mix, we’re always around P3 P4, but I want to take that step to be able to fight for pole position. And that’s something I need to work on myself. I think the team also can help me on that. So it’s something that in the next three weeks we will speak about and try to improve that for the following rounds.”
Experience making a difference in Jeddah
This was not the first time Richard Verschoor competed on such a difficult circuit as the Jeddah Corniche track. The Saudi Arabian GP proved to be hard for some rookie drivers at first, but Verschoor voiced the reality of this “upper hand”. He believed his past experience helped him have a slight advantage, especially during the Free Practice. MP Motorsport’s driver did not have to waste any time getting settled in and learning the feel of the circuit:
“I think experience, mainly in the race, has definitely helped. For example, today I didn’t feel great at the start of the race, but I think, with my experience, I knew what to do to stay calm and to work a bit on my driving. So I think those are moments where experience definitely helps.”
“I think I remember my first time being here. I was also P2 in qualifying, so I think in raw pace, there’s not a huge difference. Of course, it’s nice that you know the track for the first two laps in FP, but afterwards I think everybody can be on the pace because there’s a lot of talent in the in F2. But in the race, I think sometimes it can make a difference.”
Risk management for the championship leader
Answering a question from Pit Debrief, Verschoor stated that it is way too early to be thinking about managing risks. He seemed to be pretty determined in his hopes for the future, however, he wanted to focus on gathering points:
“Maybe, if I would be in the same situation again, leading the championship at the end, I wouldn’t have done prime option today. So that could be some kind of risk management. But now we are early, I don’t know at how many points we are.”
“But it’s so early, we need so much more points on the board if you, in the end, want to fight for a championship. So I just have to keep pushing hard, even harder than that I’ve done in qualifying so far. So yeah, it’s early to do risk management. I just have to go for it and see what happens.”
Tyre management strategy
Richard Verschoor’s performance during the Saudi Arabian GP Feature Race was outstanding. While other drivers pitted for fresher tyres, he stayed out. The Dutchman set fastest laps with 20-lap old rubber on a high-speed circuit. In fact, Verschoor actually explained how he handled the tyre degradation and how his racing changes based on his confidence:
“To be honest, sometimes you’re just in the right window and you’re feeling it and you’re just going for it. And some races you struggle more, some races you’re really fast. And, to be fair, sometimes I don’t even know why. So today, I was feeling great and I tried to make the maximum from the pace I had. I already felt great yesterday, but I was in hyper focus today. I tried every corner to nail it, and I barely made any mistakes.”
“So, I think I was just very confident with the car and also the encouragement of my engineer in my ear, that I was doing a good job. Yeah, I think we were just really on it today, and this is exactly, I think, what you need in F2: the moments where you can perform, you need to deliver, and the moments where you struggle, you need to try to get as many points as you can. So yeah, really happy with today.”
Physically demanding circuit
The Saudi Arabian GP is known for its hot temperatures, both outside and inside the car. Verschoor admitted to not facing any issues while in the race, however, he faced some light-headedness during the interview. Even if the drivers learn to ignore the physical challenge, the mental one poses a bigger threat in Verschoor’s eyes:
“Well, physically I didn’t really struggle, I didn’t think about it. When I jumped out of the car, through the interview, I felt a bit dizzy. So it was definitely physical. I think, also, we are losing a lot of fluid. But mentally, I had a few moments in the race where, you know, you’re so focused and you cannot make any mistakes. So a few times I was a bit out of the focus and then trying to get back in.“
“Sometimes, as Jack said before, you’re like in tunnel vision. So you’re just doing those laps, and suddenly you are three or four laps further. And it’s also very nice feeling if you’re that focused. You don’t think about anything else. Just performing and doing the best you can. So I think mentally was the harder part. and physically I’m still soaked, but I’ll make up for it tonight.”
“Best race so far“
At the same time the others were struggling, Richard Verschoor thrived. The MP Motorsport driver pushed the car beyond any previously shown capabilities, and the Feature Race got to see flying lap after flying lap from him. Nevertheless, Verschoor recognised the difficulties he faced during the Saudi Arabian GP, such as issues with the balance or tyre degradation.
“To be fair, I think this was my best race so far. I was just putting in qualifying laps. Maybe even those laps were maybe even better than my qualifying lap. Yeah, I was really pushing. And, also, from the start, you know, I was trying to manage a bit the gap towards the option drivers in front of me.”
“I was really struggling with the balance, especially when I was behind other cars. So, at some point, the longer the race went on, the better I started to feel. And I think, as someone said, by the end, I was still doing fastest lap.”
“We wanted to stay out, but at some point, of course, you have to box. And then I expected a bit more deg on on the option tyre and I wasn’t sure if I was going to catch Jack. But, two laps to the end, I could feel a little bit of deg, but I was just going for it.”
As his closing statement, Richard Verschoor made sure to acknowledge how much the win meant, not only for him, but also for MP:
“And, of course, very happy and also happy for the team. They were really disappointed yesterday after we lost the win. So, yeah, it’s a very good feeling also towards them to give them something back before the small break of three weeks.”
