Richard Verschoor: From Formula 4 Champion to Le Mans Driver

Richard Verschoor is a Dutch driver who won the SMP F4 title as a fifteen-year-old, became the first Dutch winner of the Macau Grand Prix in 2019 and later finished third in Formula 2. His 2025 Formula 2 season brought four victories and a championship lead, and he moved into sportscar racing the following year.

Where did Richard Verschoor start racing?

Born on 16 December 2000 in Benschop, Utrecht, Verschoor began karting competitively in 2011. He spent three years contesting Dutch national championships before stepping up to European level in 2014, when he won the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy. A German Karting Championship title followed in 2015.

That 2015 season also produced a third place in the European CIK-FIA KF series, plus a sixth in the world title race. Those results marked him as a serious karting prospect before he moved to cars.

His move to single-seaters came in 2016, when he entered the SMP F4 Championship aged fifteen. The step up from karts was quick, and he was winning races within months.

The Dutch driver who won F4 titles at fifteen and then built the longest Formula 2 career on record.

How dominant was the 2016 Formula 4 season?

Verschoor won on his SMP F4 debut in Sochi and then took ten consecutive victories. He clinched the title with three races remaining and finished nearly 70 points clear of his compatriot Jarno Opmeer.

Running in parallel with the SMP campaign was the inaugural F4 Spanish Championship, which he entered with MP Motorsport. He took the first race of that series and went on to win all but three races, which gave him a second title in the same year.

Outside those two campaigns he also drove a few rounds for Motopark in ADAC Formula 4, and for Bhaitech Engineering in the Italian series. These outings extended his exposure to different tracks and different rivals before he moved into the wider European ladder.

What happened in the Toyota Racing Series?

Verschoor spent 2017 in the Toyota Racing Series with Giles Motorsport, and he finished third in the standings. He opened with two podiums at Euromarque Motorsport Park, then inherited his maiden victory at Teretonga when Thomas Randle received a post-race penalty.

He returned in 2018 with M2 Competition and took the first race at each of the first three rounds. He was a title contender alongside Robert Shwartzman, and he took two victories in the final round at Manfeild. Those wins were not enough, and he finished runner-up, five points behind Shwartzman.

How did the Formula Renault Eurocup years go?

In 2017 Verschoor stayed with MP Motorsport for the Formula Renault Eurocup, where he was teammates with fellow Red Bull junior Neil Verhagen. A seven-race run without points between Hungary and Austria hurt his campaign. He recovered with fourth at Paul Ricard and claimed his first podium of the series with a third at the Barcelona finale, finishing ninth overall and fourth among rookies.

In 2018 he moved to Josef Kaufmann Racing, a squad that had taken the two previous drivers' championships in the series. The season was hard once he had left the Red Bull junior outfit. His best result was a runner-up finish in a race stopped by a red flag at the Red Bull Ring, and he ended the year thirteenth with one podium.

He also joined the GP3 Series midway through 2018, replacing a seat that became available at MP Motorsport after Roberto Merhi left its Formula 2 line-up. He was excluded from qualifying on debut but scored with seventh in the sprint race, and a podium in Sochi helped him finish fifteenth with 30 points.

How did the first Formula 3 season go?

The 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship was new, and Verschoor raced in it for MP Motorsport. He had a difficult start, failing to score at Barcelona after qualifying fifteenth. His first points came at Paul Ricard, where he finished fourteenth in Race 1 and then charged to fourth in Race 2.

Points came again at the Red Bull Ring, but a run of three scoreless rounds followed, including a technical retirement in Hungary. He recovered at Monza, where a fifth place rose to fourth once Marcus Armstrong took a penalty, and he added a fourth in the second race behind Liam Lawson. He finished the season thirteenth with 34 points.

How did Verschoor win the Macau Grand Prix?

Verschoor won the 2019 Macau Grand Prix for MP Motorsport on his first attempt, becoming the first Dutch driver to win the race. He was also the first rookie to win since Keisuke Kunimoto did in 2008.

He qualified fifth and finished fourth in the qualification race. After passing Robert Shwartzman and Christian Lundgaard early, he took the lead from Juri Vips on lap eight. He had clipped the wall during the move and suffered bent steering, but he held off Vips to the flag.

Macau was not his last appearance. In 2023 he returned to Trident for the race and finished sixth.

How did the 2020 Formula 3 season go?

Verschoor stayed with MP Motorsport in 2020, partnering Bent Viscaal and Lukas Dunner. He claimed his maiden Formula 3 podium at the Red Bull Ring, where he started third for Race 2 and passed David Beckmann and Clement Novalak for second.

His run at Spielberg was strong too. From eleventh on the grid he recovered to seventh in the wet first race, and he took fourth in Race 2 after a late clash between Liam Lawson and Jake Hughes opened a gap for him. Later rounds were harder, with a 27th-place qualifying result at the second Silverstone round limiting him to nineteenth and eighteenth.

The season ended with a fifth in the Mugello finale. He ended ninth in the table with 69 points and thirteen top-ten finishes, and he was MP Motorsport's highest-scoring driver that year.

How did Formula 2 begin in 2021?

In 2021 Verschoor joined MP Motorsport for Formula 2, first on a round-by-round basis alongside Lirim Zendeli and then for the rest of the campaign. He made an immediate mark in Bahrain, where he qualified sixth and rose to fifth once Juri Vips was disqualified.

His maiden Formula 2 victory came at Silverstone in the second sprint, which he started from the reverse-grid pole spot. He had qualified third there behind Oscar Piastri and Zhou Guanyu, and he finished fourth in the feature race after pressuring Piastri in the closing laps.

Money problems at MP Motorsport meant Jack Doohan took his seat for the last two rounds. Verschoor came back for the Abu Dhabi finale with Charouz, filling in for the injured Enzo Fittipaldi, and collected a point with tenth in the feature. He ended the season eleventh with 56 points.

What was the 2022 Formula 2 season like?

In 2022 Verschoor moved to Trident, partnering Calan Williams, after six years with MP Motorsport came to an end. He won the Bahrain sprint from the front row, which was Trident's first Formula 2 victory, and he took his maiden feature podium with second place behind Felipe Drugovich at Jeddah.

The middle of the year was harder. Trident failed to score at Imola, Barcelona and Monaco, and car problems kept him out of qualifying at Monaco. At Red Bull Ring he crossed the line first in the feature race after a gamble on slick tyres, only to be disqualified for insufficient fuel, which promoted Logan Sargeant to victory.

Zandvoort brought a home podium, with second place in the feature race after he passed Dennis Hauger during the pit cycle. He later apologised for a collision with Jack Doohan in a safety car restart. He finished the season twelfth with 103 points, one win and three podiums.

What were the 2023 and 2024 seasons like?

In 2023 Verschoor joined Van Amersfoort Racing on his 22nd birthday, alongside Juan Manuel Correa. He won the Austrian feature race after an alternate strategy and a late safety car period let him switch onto fresher tyres, overtaking race leader Frederik Vesti in the closing laps.

A Spa sprint win slipped away to Enzo Fittipaldi on the last lap but one, and a later disqualification for an illegal throttle map followed. He bounced back with sixth in the feature. At Monza he was third in the sprint, after a five-second penalty for releasing unsafely in the feature he fell from fourth to twelfth.

He finished the 2023 season ninth with 108 points, a victory, three podiums and a fastest lap. He outperformed his teammate Correa comfortably across the year.

In 2024 he returned to Trident for a fourth season in Formula 2, alongside Roman Stanek. In the Jeddah sprint he finished first on the road, but a throttle pedal map disqualification removed the win, his second loss of a Formula 2 victory to a technical rule.

Monaco brought his maiden Formula 2 pole position, but a technical issue ended the feature on lap 31. At Hungary he won the sprint from reverse pole, only to be stripped of the win for an illegal plank assembly, then charged to third in the feature. At Baku he took his second pole and his first victory of the campaign, which lifted him into the top ten for the first time that season.

He finished 2024 eighth with 106 points, one victory and six podiums. Ahead of the Qatar round he had announced his return to MP Motorsport for the last two rounds of that year and for the full 2025 campaign.

How did the 2025 championship fight unfold?

For his fifth season in the category, Verschoor teamed up with Oliver Goethe at MP Motorsport in 2025, and he said he was aiming for the championship. He won the Jeddah feature race from a strong position after a five-second penalty had dropped him in the sprint. The win moved him to the top of the standings for the first time in his F2 career.

Barcelona brought a sprint victory from outside the top ten after a safety car period let him switch onto soft tyres. At Austria he took the feature win, keeping Alex Dunne behind in the final laps, which gave him a 24-point lead.

His form dipped later. A first scoreless weekend came at Spa, and he surpassed Ralph Boschung's mark for total F2 starts at Budapest. He won the Qatar sprint from reverse pole, and the season closed with him third in the standings, after four victories, six podiums and 170 points.

He left Formula 2 after five seasons, with 125 starts as of 2025, the most in the category's history.

What has Verschoor done since leaving Formula 2?

In March 2026 Verschoor made his Formula E debut in Lola Yamaha ABT machinery during the rookie test at the Madrid ePrix. The same year he moved into sportscar racing with Duqueine Team in the European Le Mans Series, in the LMP2 Pro-Am category.

He partnered Doriane Pin and Giorgio Roda in the car. At the season opener in Barcelona, Roda qualified it on pole in class, and the No. 30 car led for most of Pin's stint. Verschoor took second at the flag, but a late ten-second time penalty dropped the team to third.

What was his time with Red Bull and McLaren like?

Verschoor was one of four drivers added to the Red Bull Junior Team in 2016, after his first single-seater victory. In December 2017 it was announced that he would leave Red Bull, and he later said the programme had mainly added pressure.

McLaren later added him to its driver development programme, which it announced in 2025.

What were his results, season by season?

Who is Verschoor away from the track?

Verschoor was born in Benschop, Utrecht, and as of July 2022 he lived in Benschop, in the Netherlands.