Interview
Making history in Yas Marina, MP Motorsport Team Principal Sander Dorsman was delighted as the Dutch outfit claimed the Teams’ Championship title in a nail-biting final Feature Race of the 2022 campaign.
The result caps off a remarkable year for the team, as they become only the second outfit to do the double in Formula 2 and take home both the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in the same season.
While they’ve undergone a monumental turnaround from sixth in the Standings in the past two years to first, the MP team boss is already hungry to hold on to the top spot next year.
“It sounds good, doesn’t it? To be honest I think with everybody, it needs to sink in a bit,” Dorsman admitted. “We are obviously delighted with the results this year and also the way we did it today. I’m happy to have done it in style and it was nice to see Felipe do a great job again. I am really proud of the team. Everybody has worked hard all year. Now, we would like to repeat it again next season.”
One of the key aspects to their success was the return of Felipe Drugovich after a season away with UNI-Virtuosi. Having already shone with the team during his rookie campaign, MP were understandably thrilled to welcome him back and his partnership with them, alongside teammate Clément Novalak, proved to be an unstoppable force.
Regaining the top spot after their success on home soil at Zandvoort, the Brazilian driver’s double podium finishes in Yas Marina helped to halt Carlin’s late charge and claim the honours by only eight points. Looking back at their triumphant campaign, Dorsman acknowledged how the growth of the both the team and their leading driver since 2020 enabled them to be in the title fight from the outset.
"I think we were really excited to have Felipe back, and then of course your aim is always to do as good as possible. That's how we entered the season, not really like, we must do this or that, but it played out nicely. And of course, we are super proud because Formula 2 is such a competitive Championship and we really had to work hard for all of this.
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“Of course, he had more experience. Also, during that year that he last drove with us, we had just experienced a bit of a turnover of people and things like that. So now, during this year, we have two more years of experience with this group of people. So, both from his and our side as a team, we’ve both matured nicely since that season.”
Drugovich’s frontrunning potential was clear to many from early on, having taken the lead in the Standings for the first time this year at the second round in Jeddah. However, the MP boss admits it wasn’t until two rounds later that they began to believe they were truly in the mix and that their continued dedication was vital to sustaining that pace throughout the 14-round calendar.
“I think it was around the early European rounds, especially around Monaco and Barcelona. We had a really good couple of rounds, a really good standard in those races. But then after that, we also had some races that were not so great. So that kept us working hard and especially during the summer break, it was not much of a holiday then, and everybody really wanted to reset and get back on the right foot. And I think that worked out quite well for us in Spa and Zandvoort. We had two amazing weekends, where we really fought back and put ourselves in this position.
Now with a few days rest before post-season testing gets underway at the Yas Marina Circuit, it’ll be time for the MP team to let their hair down and revel in their success, before reuniting with the rest of their crew back at the factory in Westmaas, Netherlands.
“We have found a nice place for tonight. We will have a celebration here and when we're back home, we’re going to do one more with the whole team from all our other categories as well to celebrate such a successful season.”