New Faces of F1 Academy: Esmée Kosterman
- therookiereporters
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Motorsports and Lego has thousands of lovers around the world and there’s a Dutch driver, who stands in the middle of both worlds: Esmée Kosterman. In this article, we get to know the MP Motorsports rookie better.
Esmée Kosterman was born on 16th April 2005, in a Dutch city called Wijk bij Duurstede. She started go-karting at the age of 12, finishing the 2017 Dutch Karting Championship as runner-up. In the next year, she represented her country in CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy. In 2019, the Dutch driver got to drive 4-stroke and 2-stroke shifter karts and was officially recognised as a KNAF Academy Talent driver. During the pandemic years, Kosterman was chosen to take part in FIA’s “Girls on Track: Rising Star” program, in which she made it to final 8 in her 2020 run. That’s where she got her first F4 spec experience. In 2021, she returned to the program to gain more experience before stepping up from karting.
Kosterman made her circuit debut in a touring car racing series called “Ford Fiesta Sprint Cup Benelux”. For 3 years (2021-2023) in this series, she worked with 3 different teams and gained important track time around the Netherlands and Belgium. Her most memorable season out of those was the last one in 2023 with Bas Koepen Racing. She scored 5 of her 9 podiums in the series, including her first victory, and finished the season in 3rd place. In the next year, Kosterman had 6 rounds of international endurance racing experience with the Lamera Cup, claiming another victory and 2 more podiums.
2024 also became the year, when the Dutch driver made her single series debut in the F4 Indian Championship for 4 races. That beginning was followed by the F4 British and Saudi Arabian Championships with the best result of 6th in Jeddah. These led to her F1 Academy wildcard debut at the Dutch GP weekend with #86 TeamViewer car operated by Hitech TGR. At her home track Zandvoort, Kosterman managed to qualify in top 10, which she converted into a 7th place finish in Race 2. This result made her the first wildcard of the 2025 season to score points and also the highest finishing one in the standings. Only 3 months after this performance, during the season finale in Las Vegas, Lego announced their entry to the F1 grid and Esmée Kosterman as their full-time driver for the 2026 season.
In summary, Esmée Kosterman’s young and remarkable career led to her full-time debut in F1 Academy with the Dutch team MP Motorsport. However, her first season didn’t start as well as her wildcard opportunity. In Shanghai, she finished 15th in the Reverse Grid Race and retired from Race 2 after a collision with another 2026 debutante, Jade Jacquet. We’ll see what the rest of the season will bring to the Dutch rookie in the Dutch team, who is driving the #32 Lego liveried car.
Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2026
