Dilano van ‘t Hoff, an 18-year-old MP Motorsport driver, died Saturday after a crash at the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in Belgium, his team said in a statement.
The Dutch driver, who won the Spanish F4 championship in 2021, was involved in a multi-car collision in wet conditions during the final race of the weekend at Raidillon.
In very poor visibility due to water spray, it appeared that he spun and was hit at a high speed by the RP Motorsport car driven by Adam Fitzgerald.
“MP Motorsport is deeply saddened to confirm that our driver, Dilano van ‘t Hoff has passed away as a result of a crash during the second race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Spa Francorchamps,” the team statement read.
“We are devastated at the loss of one of our brightest Dutch talents, who brought so much energy to our team during the years he raced with us.
“Dilano has been a part of our racing family since his motorsport debut with MP back in 2021.
“We offer our sincere condolences to Dilano’s family and his loved ones, and are in full support of them and our team members who have lost not only a driver but a friend as well.”
The race was red-flagged and not restarted.
Lance Stroll, a Canadian Formula 1 driver for Aston Martin, pleaded for changes to be made to the Belgian course in the wake of van ‘t Hoff’s death.
“It breaks my heart what happened, and I think Eau Rouge at Spa needs some looking into,” he said.
“It’s a really dangerous corner, we say it every year, and it’s not fair what happened today.”
The crash occurred four years after Anthoine Hubert, a 22-year-old French driver, was killed at the same course after a multiple-car crash at the same section of the race during an F2 race.
“We are so sad to learn of the passing of Dilano van ’t Hoff today at Spa-Francorchamps,” Formula 1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali said. “Dilano died in pursuit of his dream to reach the pinnacle of motor sport.
“Along with the entire motorsport community, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”