Feature
John Bennett: My Ultimate Driver
Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett is getting used to life in Formula 2 in what is his first full-length campaign in the Championship.
While Bennett has been focused on the job at hand and the opening three races of 2025, we posed a few questions to him and tasked him with building his ultimate racing driver.
Here’s what the Briton came up with…
INTELLIGENCE
“I’d say Alain Prost is an intelligent driver. He’s nicknamed The Professor after all.”
WET WEATHER DRIVING
“Ayrton Senna. That Donington race and that first lap was iconic.”
QUALIFYING PACE
“I’d say Lewis Hamilton. He’s obviously got the most poles in F1, but he’s always been the one to beat in Qualifying.”
CORNERING SPEED
“I’d go with Max Verstappen. When you’re watching an F1 onboard, they always look insane, but you can see when you watch his that he makes the difference in the corners.”
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TYRE MANAGEMENT
“I’d say Hamilton for tyres. He’s able to live with it. I mean I’m quite new to these tyres and the management the Pirelli tyres need in Formula 2, but from the outset you have to have them in mind.
“It’s hard at the start of a race especially, because you’re fighting with people, and you don’t want to be just cruising around. So it’s about minimising that slip you get in the early running.”
RISK TAKING
“Max. He’s not afraid to put a big move down the inside and take a few risks so I’d go with him.”
DRIVING STYLE
“Oscar Piastri. He’s very smooth. You can always tell. You can see even in one or two of his F2 pole laps, Piastri’s got quite a few, but he was always smooth with them.”
OVERTAKING
“Max. I’d say he’s probably got the best racecraft of anyone on the F1 grid. I know a lot of people say he’s super aggressive, but I think he just maximises the rules that he’s allowed to.”
ANYTHING ELSE?
“I’d say racecraft is super important but your mental capacity also – being able to not get overwhelmed in the car and to be able to think about a lot of other things while you’re in the car and racing with others. I think that’s a big one.”