Few names in single-seater racing carry the weight of history that Van Amersfoort Racing does. Founded in 1975 by Dutch racer Frits van Amersfoort, the Zeewolde-based outfit is one of the longest-running junior-formula teams in the world — a finishing school that has shaped grand prix drivers across five decades. When VAR finally arrived on the FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 grids in 2022, it brought with it the kind of institutional pedigree that money cannot manufacture.
Origins
Frits van Amersfoort, himself a competitor in the Dutch and European junior categories, set up the team in 1975. What began as a small national operation grew into one of European motorsport's most durable talent factories. The team's identity has always been tied to its founder's name and to the Netherlands, and for most of its existence VAR has operated as a privateer development squad rather than a manufacturer satellite — picking up promising youngsters and turning them into professionals.
A junior-formula institution
The roll call across VAR's history reads like a tour of the European ladder. The team built its reputation in German Formula Three (active roughly 1997–2012), winning titles with drivers such as Bas Leinders (1998), Carlo van Dam (2007), Laurens Vanthoor (2009) and Richie Stanaway (2011), and it also contested Formula Ford, Formula Opel/Lotus and Formula Renault 2.0 (Renger van der Zande, 2005). From 2012 it competed in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, and from the mid-2010s became a force in junior single-seaters in ADAC Formula 4 and Italian F4, taking F4 titles with Dennis Hauger (2019) and Oliver Bearman, among others.
Its alumni list is the team's calling card: VAR has helped develop a long line of Formula 1 drivers. Max Verstappen drove for the team in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship, the season immediately before his leap to F1 — the single most famous chapter in the team's story. Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher also passed through VAR's junior programmes, as did names including Jos Verstappen, Christijan Albers, Giedo van der Garde, Kevin Magnussen, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto at various points of their early careers.
Stepping up to F2/F3
VAR took the biggest step of its modern era ahead of 2022, acquiring the FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 entries previously held by HWA Racelab. From the 2022 seasons onward the team has run in both championships — its first sustained presence at the very top of the FIA single-seater pyramid, directly beneath Formula 1. Across these seasons VAR has fielded roughly two dozen drivers, though in the FIA F2/F3 era it has not yet claimed a teams' championship.
Identity
Van Amersfoort Racing's identity is rooted in continuity: a family-named Dutch team that has spent half a century doing one thing — developing drivers — and doing it long enough to send several of them to Formula 1. Its arrival in F2 and F3 in 2022 was less a debut than a homecoming to the elite, bringing decades of grassroots know-how to the sport's most-watched feeder series.