Dries Van Langendonck

Dries Van Langendonck (Dutch pronunciation: [dris fɑn ˈlɑŋ.dɔŋk]; born 30 August 2010), also known by his initials DVL, is a Belgian racing driver who competes in the F4 British Championship for Rodin Motorsport as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme.

Born in Hasselt and raised in Heusden-Zolder, Van Langendonck began competitive kart racing aged eight. After a successful karting career—culminating in his victories at the junior World Championship in 2023 and European Championship in 2024—Van Langendonck graduated to junior formulae. He became the youngest race winner in British F4 history on debut in 2025, before winning the Formula Winter Series.

Dries Van Langendonck was born on 30 August 2010 in Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium.^[1] His father, Frank Van Langendonck, is an administrator and former kart racer, and was once a teammate of Jos Verstappen.^[2][3] His mother, Ester Meeus, is a businesswoman and medical graduate.^[2] His parents owned and managed the local Edco Rijschool, which his father eventually sold in 2024 to focus on his karting career.^[4][5] At a young age, his grandfather built a stand for him and his older brother, Tom, to watch races at Circuit Zolder—adjacent to the family home in Heusden-Zolder, which is located on the corner where Gilles Villeneuve died.^[6][7]

The brothers first began rental karting in 2017 at Genk;^[8] Tom quit competitive karting after sustaining serious injuries in an accident a year later.^[9] Van Langendonck was initially fearful of karting, further discussing his agoraphobia with Humo in 2026.^[10] His father worked three jobs to pay for his karting career prior to his McLaren signing, describing them as "the poorest sloebers in the paddock".^[9] In addition to cutting his karting career short for financial reasons, Van Langendonck used six hours of daily sim racing to account for missed track-time.^[6] He has cited Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, and Max Verstappen as his racing idols,^[11] in addition to George Russell, who he first met as a mascot at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.^[9] He studies online at A-Maze in Beringen, learning English and Italian throughout his international karting career, and travels between Woking and Brussels for exams.^[9][12] He is managed by 2007 CIK-FIA World Championship runner-up Gary Catt.^[9]

Van Langendonck began competitive kart racing aged eight, contesting national championships with GKS Lemmens Power. He debuted in the RMC Golden Trophy that year, finishing seventeenth at Genk in Micro Max.^[13] In 2019, he won the Dutch Championship in the Rookie class;^[14] he further finished fifth and sixth in the BNL Karting Series and Rotax Max Challenge Belgium, respectively.^[15] He made his international debut in 2020, contesting the WSK Euro Series with Birel ART and claiming top-10 finishes in the ROK Cup Superfinal, Andrea Margutti Trophy, and Trofeo Ayrton Senna in 60 Mini,^[16] where he also claimed a second Dutch Championship with Paauwer Racing.^[14]

In 2021—with support from two-time World Champion Alessandro Manetti—he became the first member of Birel ART's driver development programme, as he finished runner-up to Kilian Josseron at the South Garda Winter Cup and Jensen Burnett at the ROK Cup Superfinal,^{[17][18][19][20]} also claiming third in the Italian Championship, where he won the Trofeo Jesolo in X30 Mini;^[21][16] he finished fourth at the WSK Final Cup,^[22] sixth at the WSK Champions Cup,^[23] and seventh at the WSK Open Cup.^[16] With Parolin, he claimed his maiden international title at the Andrea Margutti Trophy in 2022,^[24] with additional top-fives at the WSK Champions Cup,^[25] WSK Super Master Series,^[26] and Italian Championship.^[27]

Aged 12, Van Langendonck progressed to OK-Junior—the premier under-15 international direct-drive karting category—with Energy Corse, finishing seventh on his World Championship debut at Sarno.^[28] In 2023, he finished runner-up to Lewis Wherrell in Champions of the Future—amongst top-five finishes in the European Championship and WSK Super Master Series—before joining Forza Racing.^[29] He became the first World Champion from Belgium since François Goldstein in 1975 with his victory over Christian Costoya at Franciacorta,^[30] which elevated him into the top-10 of the International Karting Ranking (IKR) for the first time,^[31] and closed the season by winning the WSK Final Cup.^[32] Van Langendonck joined the RACB National Team for 2024,^[33] opening his campaign with runner-up positions at the WSK Champions Cup and WSK Super Master Series to Niklas Schaufler.^[29] With victories in Valencia and Slovakia—which propelled him to lead the IKR—he cruised to win the European Championship by 95 points over Costoya,^[34][35] further beating him and Schaufler in Champions of the Future whilst missing the final round to compete in OK.^[36] His successes in OK-Junior saw him named IKR Driver of the Year ahead of over 1,200 competitors.^[37]

Joining the McLaren Driver Development Programme,^[38] Van Langendonck progressed to the senior OK category in September 2024, aged 14. Following his sixth-placed debut in Champions of the Future and retiring from the rain-affected final of the World Championship at PF International, where he had an average heat position of 3.6, he won the WSK Final Cup ahead of Schaufler.^[36][39][40] He joined the Kart Republic–backed Prema outfit for 2025,^[41] winning the WSK Super Master Series and claiming a podium at Campillos on his OK European Championship debut,^[42] where he finished eighth overall after missing half the season.^[43] Upon his graduation to junior formulae midway through the season—following consultation with McLaren team principal Andrea Stella—Sporza described Van Langendonck as the "great Belgian [Formula One] hope".^[6][44]

On his fifteenth birthday,^{[note 1]} Van Langendonck graduated to junior formulae with his appearance in the eighth round of the F4 British Championship at Donington Park.^[46] He previously tested Formula 4 machinery across 14 sessions at Fontenay-le-Comte, Navarra, Vallelunga, and Brands Hatch, alongside simulator sessions at the McLaren Technology Centre.^{[6][42][47][44][10]} Stating "all I can and want to do is do everything to get [to Formula One]",^[6] he qualified on pole position on debut; starting second in race one,^{[note 2]} he dropped to fourteenth before claiming ninth in the reverse-grid second race.^{[note 3][49][50]} In the final race, he converted pole into victory, pulling a seven-second advantage over August Raber and becoming the youngest race winner in British F4 history.^[50][51] At Silverstone National, he claimed fifth in both qualifying groups before, in each race, he: was disqualified from sixth for a team administrative error; finished twentieth after receiving opening-lap front wing damage; and returned to the points with seventh.^[52] He qualified fifth and seventh in each group at the season-ending Brands Hatch round; starting from the pit lane in race one, he climbed to fourteenth, prior to his sixth-placed race two, and fifth-placed finale, helping Rodin clinch the Teams' Cup.^[53][54][55] He ended the season twenty-first overall on 38 points—having contested three of 10 rounds—with one victory and pole position.^[a]

Van Langendonck opened his 2026 campaign with Rodin in the Iberia-based Formula Winter Series, where he took a double pole position and won his opening race at Estoril in torrential rainfall,^{[note 4]} before claiming second to Rocco Coronel in race two—solidifying his championship lead—and dropping outside the points in race three after a gamble on slick tyres.^[57][58] He stalled from the front-row in the opener of the wet-weather Portimão round and dropped to twenty-seventh before climbing to seventh in the three racing laps absent of a safety car; he dominated the final two races—the latter from pole—with eight-second margins over Alfie Slater and Oleksandr Savinkov, respectively.^[59] A double pole in Valencia was followed by a victory in race one and third in race two, before ending the weekend eighth from twelfth in the closer, extending his championship lead to 61 points.^{[note 5][61]} He clinched both the rookies' and main championships with two victories from three podiums at the penultimate Aragón round, making a switchback move on Thomas Bearman and Arjen Kräling to win the final race.^[62][63] Closing his pre-season with three grands chelems at Barcelona-Catalunya, Van Langendonck achieved a record nine victories from 12 podiums and nine pole positions in the Winter Series, scoring 308 points—149 clear of Bearman in second.

Van Langendonck is set to remain with Rodin for his full rookie season in British F4.^[5][64]

In July 2024, Van Langendonck joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme, aged 13, in a parallel move to that of Lewis Hamilton 26 years prior, another young kart racer with minimal funding.^[38] He later revealed that he had received offers from Alpine, Aston Martin, and Williams following his victory in the 2023 OK-Junior World Championship.^[10] As a protégé of Warren Hughes, Van Langendonck has undergone several junior formulae tests and simulator sessions.^[65][6] He had previously been offered Formula 4 tests by the Red Bull Junior Team, but refused so he could continue his karting career.^[3] He is under contract with McLaren until at least 2031.^[5]

To account for missed track-time due to a lack of funding in his junior career, Van Langendonck began sim racing.^[6] He is one of the top-ranked iRacing drivers in the world, where he finished third in the Spa 24 Hours and the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen Special Events—both virtual team endurance races—with Drago Racing in 2025,^[66][10] before winning the first European round of the FIA F4 Global Esports Championship.^[67][6] The following year, he set the fastest lap on his way to winning the 24 Hours of Daytona Special Event, regarded as the most prestigious iRacing event.^[68][69][10]

I have a simulator here at home. You learn a lot that you can use in real racing. It is very competitive, and the others are often faster because they have a lot more experience than me: those guys train for hours every day, and their level is abnormally high. [Max Verstappen] said earlier that he finds sim racing almost more difficult than real racing. It is hard work and good training.

• IKR Driver of the Year: 2024^[37]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; ^superscript indicates points for positions gained)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

• Dries Van Langendonck career summary at DriverDB.com