MP Motorsport will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2025, and in that timeframe it grew from a simple Formula Ford team into one of the largest single-seater teams in Europe. Team boss Sander Dorsman has been with the team for 21 years while F2 driver Richard Verschoor made his single-seater debut at MP in 2016 – two veterans who are happy to share their feelings about the team that has been such a big part of their lives. Ahead of MP’s open house on 16 February, we look back at their personal history with MP and hear about their expectations for the upcoming F2 season.
We sit down with both of them at the MP headquarters in Westmaas, where they openly react to our questions about the past, present and future of MP Motorsport, starting with Sander Dorsman, whose time at MP Motorsport began under previous owner Arie van den Hoek. The latter had taken over from founder Cock Kool a few years earlier, even before MP’s current owner Henk de Jong came along.
Sander: “I came in as a driver manager to Ricardo van der Ende, who in 2004 became the teammate of Ardi van der Hoek, Arie’s son. Renault Netherlands was just starting the Benelux Formula Renault Championship at the time. On behalf of Ricardo, I attended the Renault kick-off presentation and that’s where I met Mr. Van den Hoek. That’s how the ball started rolling. We immediately won that season, by the way! The following year it became a little more serious for me. Ricardo still combined his racing with karting, so while at the karting track I ran into Bas Lammers. He had just become European champion and his sponsor was none other than Henk de Jong…. Ricardo then got an offer from Ekris to drive BMWs in the Dutch Touring Car Championship. 21 years later he is still racing for Ekris, so that worked out perfectly! Ekris BMW was one of the top teams in the country, so there wasn’t really a role for me there. Besides, I have more passion for single-seaters anyway. That deal with Ekris was the last thing I did for Ricardo, although we still see each other regularly. Henk took over the team from Arie and asked me to stay on. Then we did the 2005 season only with Bas. One car in Formula Renault Benelux. Compare that to now!”
For his part, Richard Verschoor’s first encounter with MP took place sometime early in 2016, leading up to his debut year in motorsport.
Richard: “Yes, time flies! I can remember that in 2016 we went to take pictures here in Westmaas, but I have more memories of my very first test day at Adria. After that I participated in an introduction day that MP had organised with the Dutch federation KNAF. Jarno Opmeer was also there. That went very well, so Mats van den Brand, who was the talent coordinator at the KNAF at the time, selected us for KNAF Talent First, the federation’s talent programme. We had zero Formula 4 experience, and I was just about to make my debut that season. So my father and I naturally looked at the strongest F4 championships at the time. Was that the Italian championship? Or surely the German championship? I remember that we went to talk to Motopark in Germany. But the KNAF was just kicking off with the new Northern European Zone F4 championship, with MP Motorsport as its Dutch representative. In addition, MP was making its debut in the Spanish championship, which was newly set up just then.”
Sander: “We kept nagging your dad in the following months to choose us!”
Richard: “I don’t even know whether I made the final decision myself. I think my dad and Mats tied the knot, also because of the support coming from the KNAF, so the overall picture was already falling the way of MP Motorsport.”
Sander: “The KNAF obviously wanted Richard as well, as its helped to give additional credibility to the NEZ F4 programme. And that definitely worked out.”
During this period of change, MP Motorsport was expanding on all sides. In Formula Renault, the team had made the step up from the Benelux championship to the Eurocup. From there, starting the F4 team was already its third expansion in a row, as in 2014 MP Motorsport had entered the Italian-based AutoGP championship, which used the first generation A1GP cars, while in 2013, MP had already taken over the Coloni GP2 team.
Sander: “The original idea was to also do Formula Renault 3.5 as part of the World Series by Renault. We had entered the Eurocup by winning a Eurocup race at Spa, using a wildcard for Paul Meijer in a field of 48 cars! We hadn’t even been assigned a garage, we were working from a tent in the paddock… After that we were admitted into the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, so we initially aimed to advance to Formula Renault 3.5. The plan was to take over the SG Formula team, as that had gone bankrupt. We actually put in a bid but Renault rejected us! Then suddenly GP2 came our way. I agree that stepping up from Formula Renault to GP2 was not quite the logical order but a lot of things just came our way. So then we had a Formula Renault team and a GP2 team. From there, we started filling the gaps: AutoGP, Formula 4 and then also GP3, because we saw the transition to the new Formula 3 coming. Our thought was that if we start doing GP3 now, we are sure to be in it later.”
That begs the question of how MP’s team principal now looks back on the team’s 12 seasons in GP2 and then Formula 2.
Sander: “To be honest, our first year in GP2 wasn’t all that easy. You see that with every new team entering F2, even now. Those teams have to take it on the chin because F2 is not an easy project to run. Still, we won some races those first years, with Dani Clos and Marco Sørensen, and in the years after, we were always thereabouts. But we had more ambitions and didn’t want be thereabouts all our lives, so we made some internal changes. We struck the right chord and have since outgrown that phase of not quite being there, with the team claiming the championship in 2022 and taking third place last season.”
Richard looks back fondly on his early days at MP Motorsport – that first year in Formula 4 in which he took the title in both the Spanish Championship and the NEZ Championship.
Richard: “I have so many great memories of that first season with MP. I remember we won so much that we deliberately started the last race at the back, just to see how far we would get! But if I have to choose, I think the weekend at Sochi was the best. The moment I was called by Helmut Marko… It was my very first race weekend. I thought: who is Helmut? I didn’t even know who he was! It was also funny, because the call came after a race in which I tried to overtake Jarno on the outside, after which we tapped each other and both failed to finish. So I was really annoyed by that – and then the call came! I went to visit Red Bull and the next moment I was a Red Bull junior. In hindsight, i was the start of a great time in my career. At the time it was sometimes difficult for me, but it helped me a lot afterwards. It gave me the insight that every detail has to be right if you want to go for it. Helmut has no time for someone who fails to tick off every box. I learned a lot from that and Sochi was the reason for that. Those two championships also allowed me a lot of track time, which was super nice. And look at how the Spanish championship grown – it now offers arguably the highest level in Formula 4. It was at that time that we made the first push for that.”
After a few difficult years in Formula Renault, Richard returned to MP Motorsport in GP3, where it suddenly clicked again.
Richard: “I agree that I had a difficult time in Formula Renault. For a while it was a question whether I could continue racing at all. But at MP the good feelings returned. I always feel at home at MP and I was warmly welcomed back. That’s where it all starts. Everyone who feels good about themselves performs better. True then as much as it is now. I stepped up to a faster series and things improved. That says it all, really.”
MP is known for its family atmosphere, a core value that the team likes to promote. Not only do team members stay with the team for longer periods of time, often drivers also stay longer than one season. But it’s easier to say ‘family atmosphere’ than it is to create. How does the team principal describe that atmosphere?
Sander: “I think you create it all together. You can’t just say: now we have a family atmosphere. It all starts with a stable club of people who enjoy working together. Freedom is important in that, having the opportunity to personally develop yourself. Take the chief mechanic in our F2 team – he got a great opportunity with a Formula 1 team and left this winter. He was able to fulfil his dream and we grant him that wholeheartedly. Now, for vacancies such as those, we don’t look externally – in principle, we solve them internally. That also motivates the guys who work wit hus in Formula 4, as they see that you can grow within the team. A second aspect is dealing with each other, amongst ourselves and with the drivers. Take Richard for example: he is always open and straightforward. We try to behave in the same way. That’s how you create a bond of trust, rather than an idea that develops in your head that they are playing with your mind. Trust then leads to feelings of being comfortable and in the right place.”
Creating that sense of family for drivers seems all the more logical now that the team offers the full growth path from Formula 4 to Formula 2.
Sander: “Certainly, but nevertheless there is a bit of work for us there too. Because for a driver, that growth path only makes sense if we are competitive on every step of the ladder. We may be the nicest people around, but in the end it’s about winning. For a driver, it’s about the combination of the two – I see myself growing in the team, because yes, it’s a nice working environment, but I can also win there.”
Richard: “It’s exactly as Sander says. Immediately when I came back to the team in Qatar, I noticed the team’s ambition to win. If you share that ambition, you automatically create a stronger bond. For example, we were fifth in qualifying. Some teams would say fifth is fine. But everyone at MP wanted more. I liked seeing that.”
Time to look back on the past Formula 2 season with both of them, a season in which every team started with a new car. A strange year with favourites who disappointed and rookies who shone, and with different teams at the top almost every weekend. Where did MP stand in that changing set of circumstances?
Sander: “I think we had quite a good year. Our engineers did a fantastic job in developing the new car. Their methodology paid off immediately, because on almost every track we were fast. The mechanics did their part, because mechanically we also experienced a strong season. Then you come back to what we were just talking about: it’s for these reasons too that you want to keep the same group of people together. People already know each other and don’t need to get used to each other. So those are some potentially uncertain elements that you can remove. Apart from that, it was a luxury that we could do the last two rounds with Richard and Oliver – that gave us a head start into the new season. It was unfortunate that we lost Franco halfway through, but for Franco it was for a positive reason. And that’s all cool, since that is the exact purpose of our talent ladder anyway.”
In those two final race weekends back on the old nest, Richard immediately picked up a shedload of points, and two trophies as well, thanks to working well with the team.
Richard: “It helped that I knew many people on the team, including the engineers with whom I got back to working again. My experience helped, but also because of that old connection the performance was there right away. I now notice that there is a team behind me that knows what they are doing and that I can trust 100%. It is important to feel that they have everything under control. It means that in a feature race I only have to focus on the moment to best change tyres. They have the numbers, I have the feeling in the car.”
Sander: “It works both ways. A driver needs to have trust in his engineer and vice versa. Once you reach that sort of level where you have blind faith in each other, you can really go for the best results.”
Richard: “That plays out especially in qualifying. If I give feedback, the engineer has to be sure that my feedback is correct and make the call on that. He doesn’t have time to check the numbers himself to see if everything is correct. Those are crucial moments when that trust is so important.”
Sander is clear about the main reason for MP and Verschoor getting back together.
Sander: “Very simple. I like the guy, but in the end we want to become champions. I think with Richard we just have the best chance.”
So is the goal to re-create another ‘Drugovich year’?
Sander: “Gladly, I would say! But you can never write a scenario in advance. We didn’t do that in the season with Felipe either. The most important thing is that we have a solid foundation now, as there was then.”
Richard: “Every year is different, every race is different. You can never predict it. I’ve been in Formula 2 for several years and still I can’t tell what’s going to happen! What matters is that you and your team communicate well and have confidence in each other. Especially if you suffer a weekend with setbacks, it’s vital to still score those points or even claim those trophies. Consistency is key.”
Sander: “I fully agree with Richard – you will always have times when things don’t go quite the way you want them to, especially in Formula 2. One weekend you dominate the entire field, the next week you’re dangling in the mid-pack. The main thing is keeping your cool and bringing home the points in those weekends where you started in the mid-pack.”
In this way, Richard still got a lot of points out of a seemingly failed weekend last season with an alternative strategy.
Richard: “Unfortunately, I was often in the position of being forced to do that. I want to get rid of that. So that will be one of my focal points this year, preparing a lot in the sim as well. We have a strong cooperation in the simulator and I am very happy with that. If you consistently qualify in the top-ten, there is always something you can do when it comes to scoring points. But I’d prefer to sit even higher, of course!”
Any idea who your strongest opponents will be this year?
Sander: “That is so hard to predict. If you would have asked that a year ago, everyone would have missed the boat!”
Richard: “That’s so typical of Formula 2 – you just don’t know. Again this year, young drivers will come in who have proven themselves in Formula 3, but even that hasn’t always proved a thing.”
Sander: “You know what? I can imagine that people who follow of the championship – the fans, the media – wonder about such things. But as a team you put all your energy into making your own thing work. We don’t have influence over our neighbours in the pitlane. So for MP it’s a matter of keeping our ranks closed and working really hard on our own team. That’s how you build your self-confidence and then that feeling of ‘yes, let’s go for it!’ just comes naturally.”
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