A tough campaign: Richard Verschoor on his 2024 season so far

27 September 2024

It has been a year of trials for Richard Verschoor as the Dutch driver endured euphoria and disappointment in equal measure.

The Trident driver has crossed the line first several times this year, but only has one victory to his name after several post-race disqualifications for things out of his control.

That’s not even mentioning the heartbreak of Monte Carlo, a race he seemed to have full control of until an issue took him out of the running. Reflecting on the campaign so far, Verschoor is honest in his thoughts, admitting that 2024 has not been the year he’d hoped for.

“It’s been a difficult season, unfortunately not what we’d really hoped for. With the new car coming in, it was a bit of a challenge, as you could see throughout the field. There were teams struggling with the car to get it on pace.

“We had some good races but also some where we either got disqualified or had issues or something happened where we didn’t get to score any points.

It has been a difficult year but recent form is trending upward for Trident and Verschoor

“It’s always easy to say it like this but if you just count the races that we won and Monaco, we could have easily been in the top five at the moment. So, it all looks a bit worse than what it is, but it’s not the season we’d hoped for.”

Ever the optimist, Verschoor says that while he would of course loved to have been on the end of more positive results across the year, he and his Trident team have been able to make improvements as a result of their setbacks.

Even if he’s had to wait a little longer for the winning feeling to sink in since, the Dutch driver says that there have been important lessons taken that have led to their late-season improved form.

Verschoor has been a top five finisher in five of the last seven races, a span that includes four podium finishes and one race victory. It would extend further to an eight race and second victory had his Budapest disqualification taken away another strong result on track.

Baku Feature Race victory was the Dutch driver's first of 2024

“I think we’ve learned many things out of the bad weekends. That’s the only positive of having a bad weekend, you learn a lot. In the end you have to improve and it’s a shame we’ve had to go down that route.

“It’s a shame those kinds of things happened, and I wish they didn’t, but I didn’t expect that those things would happen so often, but sometimes in motorsport, the unexpected things happen.

“In the end, if you do a good or a bad race, you always start again from zero the next weekend, so you always have to perform again and again. That’s how I look at it. The only problem is that now when I’m on the podium, I just have to see first whether I keep it or not.

“So the happiness can be a bit missing, like when I was on the podium in Budapest and we got disqualified again, but then of course, Monza and Baku were nice again and everything was fine, so we’re getting back on track.”

The Trident driver is hoping for another win before the end of a tough campaign

Looking ahead to the final two race weekends of the season, Verschoor is aiming to end 2024 on a high note and believes there’s no reason why the team can’t roll their strong form into the final double-header.

One weekend will take place in Lusail, Qatar, a brand-new venue for Formula 2 while the campaign is rounded out at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi the following weekend.

Verschoor hopes to secure another great result before the chequered flag falls for the final time in 2024.

“I would have preferred that the baseline was a bit better, but I think we are improving slowly but we still don’t have the quickest car on the track. We can score some good points, and it will be nice to take home a trophy, that’s always good.

“In F2 you never know but I will definitely be doing my best for the team, hoping to give them points on the board. Qatar and Abu Dhabi are very far away but I’m looking forward to them.”