Verschoor "had so much pace" on his way to F2 sprint win in Qatar

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

MP Motorsport racer Richard Verschoor believes he had plenty of pace during the 23-lap Formula 2 sprint in Qatar. The Dutch driver started the Saturday sprint from reverse grid pole, briefly overtaken by AIX Racing's Joshua Dürksen off the line. Verschoor would regain the lead only laps later, untroubled on his way to victory.

Verschoor took his fourth win of 2025 in Qatar | Credit: Formula One

It was an important performance for Verschoor, and imperative for him to win the sprint in Qatar to keep his championship hopes alive. Sitting 37 points off championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli ahead of the sprint, the MP Motorsport racer has now closed the gap to 31 points, ahead of the Feature Race.

Despite Verschoor making up a spot on Dürksen's AIX Racing car on Lap 4, he had to survive two safety car restarts, first brought out when Trident's Laurens van Hoepen and James Wharton collided at Turn 1, and later for Cian Shields spinning out at Turn 13 late in the race.

Verschoor adopted two different strategies for the safety car restarts. On Lap 17, he made a break for it much earlier, even before the final corner. On the final lap, he kept the field together for much longer, only going back to racing speeds off the final corner on the circuit.

When asked about his strategy behind it, Verschoor initially joked, saying, "I think I went even earlier (on the second restart)", before mentioning he would keep these restarts in mind if he led in the Feature Race.

Victory in the Qatar sprint also marks Verschoor's eighth F2 victory, tying him with 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich, 2019 F2 champion Nyck de Vries and Artem Markelov for the all-time record. However, a difference between the trio and Verschoor is his longevity in the series, at 127 F2 starts, something he points out in hindsight.

"Not much because I've been here longer, so I don't even like those kind of stats," Verschoor mentioned, when asked about how much the record meant to him.

Verschoor also believed it was a proud moment for him to compete another season, his fifth in the series, alongside some of the top talents in the world, with no driver academy backing to his name so far.

"I'm really proud to have been at this level of sport, out of sport. Also, this year I think we are showing what we are capable of.

That was my reason to do another year of Formula 2. Being surrounded by big talent. I'm just proud also of the team, because I think most wins came from this year (2025)," Verschoor concluded, mentioning the uptick in form that came about this season.

Verschoor took victory in Qatar | Credit: Formula 2

Four of Verschoor's eight F2 wins have, in fact, come in 2025: Two in Feature Races at Jeddah and the Red Bull Ring, and two in Sprint Races at Barcelona and Qatar. When asked what had brought about such a change in fortunes, Verschoor lauded MP Motorsport for their strong form, mentioning he had 'felt good' right after signing for the team.

"Of course it's nice. I could feel already from the moment I signed with MP that I was feeling good," Verschoor said.

"They really helped me improve myself even more as a driver. I think you can always learn more even if you have a lot of experience. Then, on the other hand, they also gave me a good car.

"They gave me a good team to help improve the car. So I think we did that very well this year. We took a lot of opportunities that we got. Of course I'm far behind now, but I still will fight until the end for the championship."

A fact also not lost on Verschoor's F2 career are his disqualifications stripping him of race victories. Verschoor has lost three race wins to post-race disqualifications in his career: Austria in 2022, Jeddah and Hungary in 2024, a fact he acknowledges.

"I should have had much more (victories)," he jokes, referring to the lost victories.

Qatar has been a happy hunting ground for Verschoor, with the sprint event under lights seeing the Dutchman finish third in 2024, before winning the race in 2025.

"For me, the car just suits this track," Verschoor said, responding to DIVEBOMB when asked about his success at the venue. "Yesterday (in qualifying), I just didn't do a good job."

I also apologise to the team, of course, for that. My teammate did a phenomenal job. Unfortunately, he lost pole position. But he showed that he is really quick and that the car is very good around here." Verschoor said, reflecting on his own qualifying performance on Friday.

"I think we showed that again today in the race. So yeah, for sure, the car is very competitive on this kind of tracks. Also, next week, I know that we are good as well in Abu Dhabi. So it's up to me to perform.

The element of rustiness had also caught up to Verschoor, in some sense. Returning after a two-month break of no racing is a difficult feat, and he had only completed five laps in Free Practice due to an engine issue.

"Yesterday, I could just feel that I'm not someone that is driving at all in the break. So I haven't been in a race car for two months. And I think that's just not really smart. Even though it's very expensive to drive, it's just not smart, because I could feel the difficulty when I was driving," Verschoor concluded.

The MP Motorsport racer was also among the leading quartet in the early stages of the race, pulling away by a significant margin after taking the race lead from Dürksen. One of Verschoor's laps even saw him gap the entire field by six tenths of a second.

He would also take home the fastest lap of the race, and the extra championship point that came with achieving the honour.

Such pace, as well as the overall pace of the top four caused fifth-placed Sebastián Montoya to echo the sentiment over the radio when he said, "They are pushing like animals".

When asked by DIVEBOMB if this was their actual pace, or they were just using the tyres more, Verschoor replied, "I really wasn't pushing. When I overtook Joshua (Dürksen), I think I dropped around eight tenths (of a second) from what I should normally do.

"I don't know, maybe the car was just on rails but I had so much pace. I think also what makes a big difference is what it feels like. It's much more hard to follow. For me, I was in clean air so it was much easier to do all the high-speed corners, therefore keeping the tyres more alive and everything feels a bit more easy," Verschoor concluded, referring to the pace advantage of being out in front in clear air.

Starting 10th on the road tomorrow, Verschoor will certainly have strategy options at his disposal during the Feature Race. The mandatory pit stop would open up opportunities to make up ground around the circuit that is difficult to overtake.

Now 31 points off Fornaroli, Verschoor will have to finish in the top two to carry the championship battle to Abu Dhabi, something he will 'fight until the end' for, in a bid to win his maiden F2 title.