Braving illnesses, a heavy crash and bouncing back - van Hoepen’s tricky return to the F2 podium in Hungary

Credit: Trident via X

Trident’s Laurens van Hoepen took his third Formula 2 podium in the Hungarian sprint race, fending off Invicta’s Rafa Câmara towards the end. It was a third F2 podium for the Dutchman, and the first since he last appeared on a podium in the Miami sprint race in May. 

“Coming back after a tough week in Spa, it feels very nice,” van Hoepen said, speaking to the media on his result in the sprint. 

F2’s previous weekend at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps had proven to be a challenging outing for Trident, with neither van Hoepen nor teammate John Bennett scoring any points, despite strong pace in the races. 

The weekend proved particularly disastrous on the Dutchman’s side of the garage, as he experienced a heavy shunt at the exit of Malmedy corner, bringing out the red flag. Despite his Trident’s brakes catching fire, van Hoepen walked out relatively unscathed. 

Such a heavy impact can have a larger effect on any driver, as they are often taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks and later released. For van Hoepen, though, the weekend had a knock-on effect on his own health, more than the crash. 

“I wasn't affected by it during the week itself,” van Hoepen said, on how he dealt with the lead-up to Hungary. 

“I was struggling a bit with the sickness that I had. I was trying to recover as much as I could during the week itself, trying to focus on, of course, the weekend at hand.

Van Hoepen’s season has been one of mixed fortunes. Showcasing Trident’s fresh turn of pace early in the season, he notched podiums in Melbourne and Miami, emerging as an early contender for the championship. 

The stars looked to be aligning in his favour when he took a maiden F2 pole at Canada. Yet, an incident at the Wall of Champions brought an end to his race, kicking off a tricky period of the season for van Hoepen. 

After being turned around by Kush Maini in qualifying, van Hoepen would start only 20th in Monaco, with a difficult pair of races following that weekend. 

His flying lap in Barcelona’s qualifying would be halted by the red flag, with van Hoepen tracking to qualify towards the front of the grid after two sectors. Nevertheless, Trident’s strong race pace allowed both drivers to make a comeback into the points, as the Dutchman finished fifth after starting 13th. 

Qualifying lower down the order in Austria and Silverstone would also hamper his comeback, with van Hoepen often pushed towards starting on the harder compound of tyres and running deep into the race on his first stint. “There was an issue that we had, and we couldn't really find out what it was,” he remarked, speaking on the two challenging weekends. 

Despite his struggles over one lap, van Hoepen was able to maintain his pace over a race distance, finishing eighth in Austria’s Feature Race. Later in Spa, he recovered strongly from a sensor issue in qualifying to finish 10th in the sprint. 

“We finally found out what it was, and then kind of got the pace back, but then in Spa we had a sensor issue,” he said. 

Credit: Trident via X

Hungary was among van Hoepen’s stronger tracks, with the Dutchman having won at the venue in Formula 3 back in 2025, before being disqualified after the post-race inspection. Perhaps it was no surprise that he qualified sixth on the road, his best since the pole in Canada.

This amounted to fifth on the grid for the race, and van Hoepen drove a measured stint in the DRS train, behind Dino Beganovic’s DAMS and Nikola Tsolov’s Campos. On a day when track temperatures peaked at 50°C, drivers remained wary of using up their tyres too soon, for fear of being overtaken and falling down the order later in the race. 

“I was saving so much in the beginning of the race,” the Trident man said. “I really thought I would be able to attack towards the end.” 

It was this dilemma several drivers faced around the tricky Hungarian circuit. Pushing too hard for an overtake could have cost several positions, or risked an incident, and van Hoepen elected to play the patient game to maintain his position around the circuit. 

Trident have generally emerged as one of the strongest teams on race pace in 2026, and for the Dutchman, his fortunes would align when Tsolov made contact with long-time race leader Sebastián Montoya, elevating him to third on the road. 

Despite being on aging tyres, van Hoepen managed to fend off the chasing Invicta of Rafa Câmara, apart from closing in on a slowing Beganovic, who had worn down his tyres in trying to chase down race winner Gabriele Minì. 

Van Hoepen still crossed the line a stellar third, though, giving Trident plenty of reason to cheer after a difficult weekend around Spa. It would also be the Italian team’s first podium appearance at the venue since fellow Dutchman Richard Verschoor finished third in 2024, and the perfect comeback to form once again. 

“The mechanics did a mega job after that incident to be back here, and to reward them with a podium of some sort feels really nice,” van Hoepen responded, delighted to have redeemed the team’s fortunes once again.  

The uptick in form since 2025 has been evident across the Trident stronghold, with the team now closing in on their tally from 2024 when they notched up 105 points across the season. Key to that aspect is having a close-knit team, one that van Hoepen had earlier mentioned as “understanding each other better”

“We understand what's needed after a session,” van Hoepen responded, speaking to DIVEBOMB on a key area of improvement for the team since 2025. “We adapt nicely when a session hasn't gone our way, and bounce back well.”

It’s an aspect of the 2026 F2 season that has been visible all through, be it at the newer rounds in Miami and Canada, or on the return to the European leg later in the year. Once again, van Hoepen will be eyeing bigger results when he lines up sixth on the grid for the Feature Race on Sunday. 

“We just have to finish the weekend off strong with a strong race tomorrow. So, all eyes on that,” he concluded, optimistic about his outlook for the Sunday race. 

Trident and van Hoepen have moved ahead more often during the Feature Races in 2026, and if there’s anything to go by this, there’s no doubt the team in blue and white would be one to keep an eye on during the 37-lap race on Sunday.