Cordeel loses licence for speeding

RACING drivers around the world are usually responsible people, striving to set an example by driving with courtesy on public roads and saving their special talents for the track.

Not so young Belgian driver Amaury Cordeel.

The 20-year-old has (or had) quite a presence in Formula 2, racing for the Dutch Van Amersfoort team and is contracted to drive for Virtuosi Racing in the 2023 F2 series alongside Australian teammate Jack Doohan.

However, young Amaury faced court in his home town of Temse, in Belgium, last week, lost his licence and was fined €3600 (AU$5565) for a speeding offence committed a couple of years ago.

Seems the courts in Belgium are much like Australia’s in regard to taking their time.

What landed Mr Cordeel in the soup was a vanity video he posted of himself on TikTok, speeding along a 50km/h road in Temse at 179km/h.

He was found guilty by a tribunal, but can re-apply for a license in six months.

It wasn’t the first time he’d been charged with doing something silly behind the wheel.

The other offence happened on a highway, where an Audi was clocked at 299km/h.

He also posted footage of that to social media, but denied it was him at the wheel.

That might have been because he didn’t have a licence at the time. (Belgium’s HLN news service reported that the then-18-year-old had a fake driver’s licence, bought for $690 (AU$1000) on the internet.

Formula 2 doesn’t require its drivers to have a road licence, though the FIA is big on promoting road safety.

F2 CEO Bruno Michel said he hadn’t yet learned of Cordeel’s licence suspension and added that it would be discussed with the FIA.

“It’s probably something that will have to be discussed with the FIA, to see how to deal with it and whether to do anything special,” he said.

“We can’t ignore that fact, that’s for sure.”

The court ruling came just days after confirmation that Cordeel will contest a second FIA Formula 2 Championship campaign in 2023.

UK-based Virtuosi Racing has announced the 20-year-old would be joining the team for the 2023 F2 season.

It’s unclear if losing his licence puts his job in jeopardy.

Cordeel’s debut season had him claim 26 points on his way to 17th in the championship.

However, he’s scheduled to join Jack Doohan, who will embark on his second season in the series and with the team, having come sixth in the championship with three race wins in his rookie campaign.

He made two appearances in Formula 1 free practice sessions with the Formula 1 Alpine team at the end of the season.

“I’m thrilled to be continuing with Virtuosi Racing for my second year in F2,” said Doohan, who is also aiming to be Alpine’s reserve driver in Formula 1 for 2023.

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“After a strong first season together, I couldn’t be happier to be going into 2023 with the same great team around me. I can’t wait to get redemption from this season.”

Cordeel will also be a F2 sophomore in 2023.

“It is clear that Virtuosi is among the top teams which will only make my personal growth better,” he said.

“I already noticed with the three-day test in Abu Dhabi that they support me insanely well.

“The second half of last season is very promising for next year. I am sure that together with them I can achieve my future dreams. Really thankful for this opportunity.”

Both drivers graduated from the FIA Formula 3 Championship, in which Doohan came second and Cordeel was 23rd in 2021.

Prior to that Doohan was a two-time Formula Regional Asian Championship runner-up and a podium finisher in Euroformula, while Cordeel had several seasons of Formula Renault Eurocup experience after winning the 2018 Spanish Formula 4 title.

Now it’s up to the FIA to decide what, if anything, should be done about its TikTokker.