Dutch driver Laurens van Hoepen has had his first laps in a Formula 1 car. The Formula 2 driver was allowed to take the wheel of an old team car during a so-called Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) session at the Hungaroring during a test day with Williams. For Van Hoepen, it was a ‘day I will never forget’.
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Laurens van Hoepen made his debut this year as a full-time driver in Formula 2. During the opening weekend in Melbourne, the young driver immediately drove to a podium place during the main event. Van Hoepen currently holds fourth place in the championship partly because of this. However, ahead of the third round of the feeder series this season, the 20-year-old driver was facing a very different milestone in his motorsport career.
Van Hoepen was allowed to complete a test day for the Williams team at the Hungaroring. The test session was part of the British team’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) program. During these test days, teams are allowed to drive older Formula 1 cars, and up-and-coming talents often get the chance to make their first kilometers in F1. “The first time behind the wheel of an F1 car – a day I will never forget,” Van Hoepen wrote afterwards on his Instagram.
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‘The first step has been taken’
“It was of course something I have dreamed of since I was three years old,” Van Hoepen continues about the test session, speaking to Viaplay. “The first step has been taken, and that is really very cool.” For the young driver from Wassenaar, it was quite a switch from his usual Formula 2 car to an F1 car. “I was especially surprised by how hard the car brakes. I still feel my neck a bit now. Actually, nothing was really a big surprise, but to drive away like that for the first time in such a car is quite crazy. At one point, I also saw my name on that car, and then you think: ‘Holy shit, this is really getting close now’.”
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