Trident driver Richard Verschoor has said that he does not regret his actions towards his team after being disqualified from the Formula 2 sprint race in Hungary.
The Dutchman is into his fourth season in the category, having previously driven for the likes of MP Motorsport, Charouz and Van Amersfoort Racing.
Verschoor re-joined Trident for 2024 – having raced with them in 2022 – and comes off the back of his best finish in Formula 2 last season with ninth place in the standings.
The 23-year-old has taken victory in every previous season in F2 but is still searching for his first win this year, having come agonisingly close on a number of occasions.
Richard Verschoor says his actions towards Trident after Hungary were ‘necessary’
It has been a difficult Formula 2 season for Verschoor, with him being disqualified from two sprint races having won on the track.
In Jeddah, Verschoor and Trident teammate Roman Stanek were black-flagged after their cars were found to have an incorrect throttle pedal progressivity map installed prior to the race that did not comply with the regulations, handing the win to Dennis Hauger.
At round nine of the championship, Verschoor put his Trident 10th in qualifying, giving him first on the grid for the sprint race.
The Dutchman held on to win the race in what would have been his first victory of the season. But he was again disqualified by the stewards as the plank on the floor of his car was thinner than the regulations permitted, with Kush Maini inheriting the win.
Verschoor would get onto the podium for the feature race and finish third. But the 23-year-old was left frustrated towards his team and wanted nothing to do with them, and he does not regret making a ‘harsh statement.’
When asked if he wished he had approached the situation in Hungary differently, he told RacingNews365.nl: “No, absolutely not. I think that is just right.
“In 2022, the win was already taken away once before and now it is happening for the second time this year.
“And with the way things have gone this season; you are on the podium again with a cup and then you are disappointed again because there is something wrong with the car again.
“And of course, I understand that the team is pushing the limits, so I have to respect that. But it happens to me every time. I think you can get angry about that at some point and I was. I wasn’t happy either.
“I didn’t talk to the team much either until the car was finally approved after that podium in Hungary. It may have been a harsh statement, but one that was necessary.”
Verschoor is starting to deliver results after a difficult start to the season
Having only finished in the points five times in the opening eight rounds of the 2024 championship, Verschoor is starting to register decent results as he hopes to improve his season.
His podium in the feature race in Budapest following the disqualification from the sprint race was his first of the year and the first time he had finished in the top five in 2024.
Verschoor then had his best weekend of the season at Spa, as he repeated his podium in the sprint race with another third place and climbed from eighth to fifth in the feature race.
The Dutchman currently sits 13th in the standings on 45 points with four rounds to go.