Van Amersfoort Racing has become a household name in international motorsport over the years. The team was active for many years in regional racing series such as the Formula Opel Lotus Benelux and the Dutch Formula Ford, where it won titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Marcel Albers and Jos Verstappen.
After the turn of the century, Van Amersfoort Racing became more active at an international level, with participations in the German Formula 3, ADAC Formula 4 and the European Formula 3. In these series, the team worked with a wide range of drivers who managed to reach the highest echelons of motorsport. Think of Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen.
Verstappen made his debut in single-seaters in European Formula 3 for Van Amersfoort Racing in 2014. He eventually managed to win ten races, but still had to leave the championship to Esteban Ocon. Verstappen had made enough of an impression and made his Formula 1 debut a year later, at the age of 17.
The underdog, but nice and down to earth
In conversation with Viaplay Verstappen looks back on his time at Van Amersfoort Racing. The four-time world champion has pleasant memories of the team: “Just good Dutch. Of course, you don’t see that much at international level anymore. And in the end I was able to just do my thing. Without too much nonsense surrounding it, political games.”
So VAR and Verstappen were a perfect match. The car may not have been the best, but according to the Dutchman, all heads were in the same direction: “It was just a nice, down-to-earth Dutch team and we just went for it. Everyone always tried to make the best of it. And of course at that time we were really competing against teams that had much more resources.”
Verstappen finished third in European Formula 3 in 2014, while the team finished fourth. Van Amersfoort Racing was the underdog in a field with richer, established teams, but that never stopped Frits van Amersfoort from going for it: “And I thought that was very nice. Nice to see that a team lasts so long and then takes another step up. I always like to see that,” concludes Verstappen.
