MP Motorsport are enjoying a successful 2024 season in Formula 2 as they sit third in the Teams’ Championship with two rounds to go.
The Dutch outfit began the season with Franco Colapinto and Dennis Hauger as their driver pairing. The former was promoted by the team from Formula 3 after finishing fourth in 2023, while the latter would be heading into his second season with MP Motorsport and third in Formula 2.
While Colapinto had a slow start to the season, Hauger grabbed three consecutive podiums from the Sprint Race in Jeddah – which he won – to the Sprint Race in Melbourne.
Colapinto grabbed his first win of the season at the Sprint Race in Imola and went on to score two second place finishes in Spain and Austra.
After his three podiums in a row, Hauger scored two more in the Sprint Races in Monaco and Spa as the MP Motorsport duo were regularly able to compete for points and challenge at the front.
Sander Dorsman admits it will be ‘tough’ to win the Teams’ Championship after Franco Colapinto’s departure
Colapinto was sixth in the drivers’ standings heading into Monza when his season was brought to an abrupt halt as he was promoted to Formula 1 by Williams to replace Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the year.
F3 driver Oliver Goethe was drafted in to replace the Argentinian. In his four races so far, the German has failed to score points, retiring from two of them.
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Meanwhile, Hauger scored points in the Sprint Race at Monza and the Feature Race in Baku to leave him ninth in the standings heading into the next round in Qatar.
MP Motorsport are sat on 181.5 points in third in the Teams’ Championship, 62 points behind the leaders Invicta Racing. While the team are not looking to give up the fight for the title, team principal Sander Dorsman admitted to the F2 website that Colapinto’s loss has made it ‘tough’ for them to catch up.
“I think the team has worked very well,” he said. “They have done a very good job to understand the car very quickly, so that’s very good.
“The mechanics have done a fantastic job taking care of the reliability, touch wood, we have two rounds left, but I think they have done a fantastic job, and of course that has helped us have a good season.
“We will try and finish as well as possible. To be honest with losing Franco we realised that it will be a tough one but let’s see. We will fight for it and its game on I would say.”
Who will win the Teams’ Championship in 2024?
With a maximum of 130 points up for grabs at the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, MP Motorsport are completing out of the running for the title.
However, 62 points may be too big of a gap to close to Invicta, given the form of their driver Gabriel Bortoleto, who currently leads the Drivers’ Championship by four and a half points.
Campos Racing are sat second in the Teams’ Championship and 35.5 points behind Invicta. Isack Hadjar has scored the main bulk of their points this year and is Bortoleto’s closest rival for the 2024 title.
With MP Motorsport perhaps too far back, it is likely that it will be a battle between Invicta and Campos for both F2 titles this season.