Laurens van Hoepen on bouncing back in 2026, TRIDENT’s improvements and competition in F2

Laurens van Hoepen and TRIDENT separately had tough 2025 campaigns, but they are bouncing back together in 2026.

The Dutch driver joined the team for the final three rounds of last season, coming off the back of a tough year in FIA Formula 3 – where he finished 12th in the Standings.

They did not score any points in those last few races, but after an extensive amount of work at both post and pre-season testing they started the 2026 campaign in style.

Van Hoepen finished third in the Melbourne Feature Race and second in the Miami Sprint and also took pole position at Round 3 in Montreal.

Results have been mixed since then, but the 20-year-old returned to the podium in the Budapest Sprint, and heads into the summer break eighth in the Drivers’ Standings.

“It's been going well,” starts van Hoepen. “I think there's a lot of positives like the speed we've had so far has been really good.

“Of course there's also been some missed opportunities and I think we could have been a lot higher in the standings if we had a bit more luck and did things a bit differently. But at least the positives are that we're very quick.”

THE FIRST PODIUM AND SIGNING WITH TRIDENT

After scoring just two points last season, the signs were there that TRIDENT were going to be competitive, with their performance at the Barcelona pre-season test catching the eye.

When times were at there fastest on the final day’s morning session, van Hoepen was fourth on the leaderboard.

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So that first podium in Melbourne confirmed what the Dutchman and his team had known going into Round 1, which was they had improved a lot over the winter and were now in the fight.

“It meant a lot because it showed that the hard work that we had done over the winter and that we were still doing was paying off,” he says.

“Obviously TRIDENT had a very difficult season, but the reward of a podium for all their hard work was super nice. It also gave us extra motivation to keep working in this way and to keep going.

That podium was also a confirmation of what van Hoepen had known when he signed for the team last year – which was that the potential to fight at the front was there.

“The way they made me feel, the way they were thinking about certain things just made it very attractive to sign for TRIDENT,” he recalls.

“Of course they had a bad season, but I also had a bad season, and there was definitely a lot of potential there. The way they were ready to work and help me was something that maybe some other teams didn't really show as much.

“That's why I think it was really good that we chose for TRIDENT, and now it's paying off. We've been working hard, we're able to extract potential from the car. I think it's definitely going in the right direction.”

REBUILDING HIS OWN CONFIDENCE

Not only did TRIDENT need those opening few rounds to confirm their hard work but after a trying year, van Hoepen would have wanted a good start just as much as them.

After a strong rookie F3 campaign in 2024, the Dutch driver returned in 2025 with the hopes of fighting for the title, but it never quite happened for him.

Van Hoepen ended up on the podium twice – finishing third in both the Monte Carlo and Monza Sprint Races – and he admits this created a lot of self-doubt.

“It was difficult because at some point you do start to lose confidence,” he explains. “Even though at the beginning you're like, ‘okay, it's a bad round’, but if the bad results keep happening at some point you start to doubt yourself as well, which is then difficult.

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“I think as a driver, you should always have confidence in yourself. But then at some point, when it's not going your way, you start to doubt yourself, which then is really not what you want.”

So where are his confidence levels now?

“Now I feel very good,” he replies. “I have a lot of confidence in myself and in the team. I'm happy where I am. I think the people around me are super, which also gives me a lot of confidence in myself and me being able to do the job that I need to do.”

AIMS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

While this season has been positive, Van Hoepen also conceded that there had been a few missed opportunities for him and the team.

When talking about the goals for the rest of the season, he says: “The main focus is to do the best we can. I think fighting for a top five every round should be the target.”

But the TRIDENT driver acknowledges that the level of competition within the championship means he and the team have their work cut out for them to achieve this.

“I mean, since I was like 10 years old, we always wanted to compete against the best,” he says. “Then to do that in F2 is of course very nice.

“I think it's the only way to improve, to be able to fight against the best because otherwise, if you win everything, you don't learn. So I think it's very, very good.”