‘Aiming for the Championship’ – Verschoor on his return to MP for this season and 2025

Richard Verschoor is excited to be “back home” after signing on to race with MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of 2024 and for the 2025 season.

The 23-year-old first raced for the Dutch outfit in 2016, straight out of karting, enjoying instant success as together they won Spanish F4 Championship.

This partnership would go on to achieve more success in the years to come, such as winning the 2019 Macau Grand Prix as well as taking to the podium in Formula 3 before making the step up to F2 in 2021.

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Verschoor has gone on to race for other teams after that but earlier this month it was announced that he would be replacing Dennis Hauger for Lusail and Yas Marina before returning for a full season in 2025.

“It feels good,” said Verschoor on returning to MP. “It feels good to be back home because I've been there for six or seven years. I basically started with MP once I quit go karting, they picked me up as a kid and they brought me all the way to Formula 2.

“Basically it's because of MP I got to F2, so that's of course very nice, and we have some unfinished business. So, we are looking to do a full season now in F2, including the last two rounds of 2024. In 2021, I drove with them in F2 but I only did six rounds.”

Asked how it the move came about, Verschoor revealed that staying on for another season of Formula 2 was not part of the plan until a few teams started to call his phone.

“It wasn't necessarily my plan to stay in F2 because I've been in F2 for a few years now,” he revealed. “To be honest I was thinking about moving on but then they were quite a few good teams calling me and giving me some good deals.

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“So, then I started thinking 'Okay, why is that? Is it maybe not too long? Can I be helpful for some teams?' and I didn't have any other finalised deals, so I thought ‘Okay let’s give it another shot’.

“MP came about suddenly, and we started talking. I think it's my quickest deal I have ever done. So, basically, they came to me and I think within a few weeks they had it all sorted. I think from both sides we really wanted to sign and we did.”

Verschoor also paid tribute to Trident, who he is departing from to move to MP. His final weekend with the Italian outfit in Baku saw him win the Feature Race from Pole Position and he was happy to end their partnership with such a result.

“First of all, I am very happy to have ended the way we did with Trident,” continued Verschoor. “Ending with a win and a pole position is super nice and after the season we had it's a nice present for them.

“It was also my last race with my main engineer, Giampaolo, he left Trident and I left Trident, so it was a nice exit for both of us.

“With MP for the last two rounds, I've been here for a while, so I cannot use the words that I have to get used to things, of course I have to get used to the people but I know how to perform with this car in this Championship, so we are going for it straight away.”

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MP enter the final two rounds of the season third in the Teams’ Standings on 181.5 points, trailing second-placed Campos Racing by 26.5 points.

One of Verschoor’s targets is helping the team catch up to their Spanish rivals in the Championship, but for next year, it’s to capture the Drivers’ title.

“Of course we are aiming for the Championship,” concluded Verschoor. “The only reason to do another year is to go for the Championship. Of course, it will not be easy, but we will work hard and be there to fight for it.”