This morning when I opened my inbox the first message that I saw was a press release with the title: Ho-Pin Tung in Formula 1. Ho-Pin will be the 3rd driver for the Renault F1 team in the upcoming 2010 season! That’s extremely good news for the talented Dutch-Chinese race car driver, something he fully deserves after working hard for this opportunity for many years. This means that he will be the reserve driver and will be fully integrated into the team and travel to all the races. He will also be part of the Renault F1 team young driver program, which gives young drivers the opportunity to work closely with the team as they continue to develop their skills as professional racing car drivers. Ho-Pin will have a busy year ahead, because next to his F1 obligations he will continue to compete in the GP2 series.

Over the years I got to know Ho-Pin as a talented and very hardworking person. He is totally focussed on his racing career and his whole life was centered on it. I first met him during the summer of 2003 when my wife (then still my girlfriend) and I produced a TV program in England in which Ho-Pin Tung was featured at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We kept in touch regularly, and he appeared on this blog many times over the past years. For example when he visited our company in 2007 or when we made a flash racing game featuring Ho-Pin in 2008. See here for an overview of all posts in which he was featured.

Ho-Pin, congratulations with this major step in your career and good luck during the upcoming racing season!