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Championship future for Williams? 'Next Verstappen' in the works

18:54, 14 Jul

Updated: 20:47, 14 Jul

Co-author:Tobia Elia

byCas van de Kleut

While Max Verstappen continues to make waves in Formula 1, new Dutch talents are emerging in motorsport for the coming years. One promising driver is Dean Hoogendoorn, a member of the Williams Driver Academy. Could the English team find another rising Dutch star already in their ranks in the coming years?

Last year, during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Dean Hoogendoorn was introduced as the newest member of the Williams Driver Academy at just twelve years old, making him the youngest driver ever to sign a contract with a Formula 1 team’s academy.

Max Verstappen

Does Williams have the future Verstappen in their ranks?

Almost a year has passed since then. According to Sven Smeets, Williams’ Sporting Director, the young talent is progressing well.

Smeets highlighted three key championships for Hoogendoorn: the WSK Series, the European Championship, and the Champions of the Future. He placed more importance on these than on the World Championship, which is decided over a single weekend.

So far, the Dutch driver has been delivering strong performances. He won the WSK Super Master Series earlier this year and is currently leading the European Championship.

Smeets revealed to Motorsport.com: “We will definitely see him in cars. After the world championship in September, we will sit down with him and his parents to see what we will do next year.''

There is, however, a potential hurdle for 2027. Currently, the minimum age for many Formula 4 championships is fifteen years, but according to Smeets, this may be raised to sixteen. If that happens, Hoogendoorn might have to wait until 2028 to compete for a full season in Formula 4.

''The year after, we need to decide whether he does another half-year of karting and then moves to cars - In that case, he might miss the first race or the first few races of the season - or if he spends another full year in karting in 2027 and makes the move to cars in 2028. That will be the big question.”