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Doing everything to climb up the order: TRIDENT Season Preview
TRIDENT go into this brand new season working hard to bounce back from a 2025 campaign that by their own admission was not their strongest.
The Italian outfit arrive in 2026 off the back of what was statistically their trickiest year in Formula 2, scoring two points across the 14 rounds.
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But they are very optimistic about the upcoming season, and with their driver lineup of Laurens van Hoepen and John Bennett ready to get going, there is a lot of hope they will be competitive this year.
ANALYSING IT ALL
TRIDENT scored points in just two races, with their best results coming in the Imola and Spielberg Feature Races where they finished 10th.
That does not quite tell the full story though as they showed plenty of promise in Baku, and were running in the points in both races, before different incidents caused them to stop on track.
But their struggles came on the more traditional circuits, which is why their Team Manager Giacomo Ricci says they spent a lot of time at post-season testing analysing everything.
Ricci mentioned that TRIDENT had an idea of why they were struggling, but they used those three days to do a thorough investigation so that they can give their drivers the best package possible.
So while other teams were doing qualifying simulations and race runs, TRIDENT spent a huge part of their time aero testing, trialling different setups and much more, with the hope of getting a greater understanding of where they went wrong.
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This will be aided by a driver lineup that features van Hoepen, who competed in the final three rounds of 2025 with the team, and Bennett, who is coming back for his second full season in F2.
That experience and familiarity should help the team get back on track, especially as they are not that far removed from a 2024 campaign in which they achieved two victories and scored 105 points.
ALL NEW DRIVERS
That is the sort of form that TRIDENT will be eager to replicate in 2026, and in van Hoepen they have someone that has shown a lot of promise in single seaters.
The Dutch driver stepped up to Formula 3 in 2024 and was on the podium in three of the first four rounds, before making another two trips to the rostrum in his second campaign in 2025.
At the end of the year, he stepped up to F2 with the Italian team, taking part in the Baku, Lusail and Yas Marina rounds, as well as the post-season test.
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The 20-year-old said getting the chance to work with TRIDENT before his first full campaign this year was “super valuable” as he has already built up strong relationships with the team.
In addition, van Hoepen already knows what it takes to be successful on F2 race weekend, he will be aware of the procedures and strategies, giving him a headstart ahead of Melbourne.
As for Bennett, he showed a lot of promise in his first full year in F2 last year, and while the results did not always show that, his progression through the season was there to see.
The British driver especially improved on his race pace, and it showed by his run to the points in Monza, but now he will want to do that consistently, and that starts in Qualifying.
Bennett’s potential is there, as going back to his debut weekend in F2 back in 2024, he finished eighth in the Lusail Feature Race, climbing through the field from P19.
If the 22-year-old and van Hoepen can continue to progress on the promise they have shown, TRIDENT’s plan to climb back up the order in 2026 could well be on.