MP Motorsport 2025 Season Review: Positives without prizes

It wasn’t quite the Cinderella story MP Motorsport and Richard Verschoor had hoped 2025 would be, but the team are looking at the positives of another competitive season in FIA Formula 2.

In the Drivers’ Championship fight, Verschoor finished up just short; third in his final F2 season but a title contender for the majority of the campaign.

In the Teams’ Standings, P5 represents a slip backwards compared to 2025, but Team Manager Jeremy Cotterill was honest in his assessment of how things went, both good and bad.

“I would say it was a slight underachievement for various reasons but in the end, it is what it is. F2 is a very tight Championship and on reflection, it’s easy in hindsight to do better, but it wasn’t a bad season.

“You’ve just got to be consistent all the time and scoring points with both cars. Both cars have to contribute always in order to win the Teams’ Championship. There are no bad teams in F2, and as you can see from the points tally, a slip one weekend can make things worse.

“We take things as they are and we’ll be working towards better things next year.”

The fairytale ending for an F2 stalwart in Verschoor didn’t quite come to fruition, but he earned four race victories for MP en route to P3 in the Championship.

Cotterill admits that there is a bit of disappointment that he and the team weren’t able to get closer to Champion Leonardo Fornaroli, but that he is well-placed regardless of that for what comes next in his career.

“When you lead the Championship for any period of time, you can’t help but be disappointed not to win. But, having had a couple of days to reflect on things, I’m ok with it. It wasn’t a horrendous year, in fact it was good.

“There were days as a team and as a driver if we’re talking about Richard, we can see that there are other teams and drivers have had better days. It can happen.

“I think in Monza when he dropped it in Qualifying, that was a turning point for us and for him. But, having said that, he’s been a pleasure to work with.

“We’ve known him for a long time, he’s got a good work ethic, and the next part of his career is starting to be revealed now.”

On the other side of the garage, Oliver Goethe made marked improvements in what was his first full F2 campaign, particularly in the second half of 2025.

The German driver was fifth in both the Sprint and Feature Races at Yas Marina, results that he had been worthy of in other rounds according to Cotterill. The team hopes that his late-season surge continues into the new year.

He will be joined by new arrival Gabriele Minì, who despite his limited time with the team so far, is fitting in well.

The aim then is clear for next season: MP are gunning for a return to the very top.

“Ollie’s second half of the season has been good. Even in areas where perhaps results haven’t shown that for one reason or another – Monza for instance, where he was leading the race and we stopped and then caught a Safety Car which ruined our race.

“But that’s racing, that’s just how things work sometimes. The second half of the season has been a major step forward for him, and long may that continue.

“Gabriele, we’ve only had the few hours on track with him in post-season testing but he’s slotting into the team really well and we have high hopes for him, as we do for both our drivers. We want to come out fighting next year.”