Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Nicolás Varrone ends the first half of the 2026 F2 season having learnt a lot about the championship. The Argentine joined the grid as a rookie this year after enjoying success in the FIA World Endurance Championship. While results have undoubtedly been hard to come by for Varrone, he looks back on the first half of the 2026 F2 season with mixed emotions.
“It’s been an up and down season.”, he said. “It started with a lot of new things in the championship, because I am completely new to this type of car.”
“It started pretty good in Miami and Canada, I think we were really strong, even though I was not at one with the car. I was still learning a lot of things in the car, but I was quite strong in performance.”
Playing “catch up” to the rest of the field
Having spent most of his career racing GTs and sportscars, returning to single-seaters in a field where many drivers have spent years building their skills and developing their experience has undoubtedly presented a challenge for the VAR driver.
He explained: “But in the last few rounds, I felt that the field has completely closed up. I’m going to these European tracks where everyone already raced in the ladder, in F3, Formula Regional and all these types of cars.”
“Arriving here, it’s been difficult, having so little time to adapt from Free Practice and Qualifying to take the maximum in one lap. So I’ve been struggling in the last few rounds. I had a good start, then it dropped a bit.”
“Catalunya was quite good because I did a pre-season test, so I was more competitive. But Austria and Silverstone have been tough. But overall it’s been good, in some ways better than expected, in others a bit trying to catch up.”
When asked about which areas he has adapted to well and where he has struggled, Varrone highlighted the contrast between his qualifying and race performances.
“It’s difficult to say. I feel like the pace in the races has been strong in pretty much all the rounds.”
“But sometimes not being able to qualify in the top ten or up front has been really hurting me in these last few races. Also I feel like adapting to new tracks that nobody knows. Like Miami and Canada, I was really strong there. Those I would say are the best parts to take out.”
Success in Miami and Montreal
For Varrone, his two points-scoring finishes came in the opening rounds of the season in Miami and Montreal, with his best result coming in the Miami Sprint Race where he finished 4th. Sitting 19th in the Drivers’ Standings with 14 points, the Argentine has been unable to add to his tally since then.
“Maybe it was Miami, my second ever race weekend. I was fighting for the podium in my third ever race and that was quite epic, I didn’t expect that at all to happen.”
“I expected it to happen later in the season than there. So I think Miami and Canada were pretty cool, and Canada also, on Sunday, finishing with the fastest lap and taking some good points was quite good also. So I would say that was a bit of a highlight from those two races.”
He added: “I also really, really enjoyed Silverstone. Coming from the back, overtaking a lot of cars with really good pace on Sunday. But I would say the first two of the first two rounds of Miami and Canada were the highlight.”
Varrone: “I need to work a bit on some aspects to get better”
Heading into the closing stages of the season, Varrone identified several key areas of improvement that he hopes to address across the remaining five rounds.
“It’s difficult to say, always as a driver you want to be as high as possible,” he said. “I think at the moment I need to work a bit on some aspects to get better and to optimise all the performance.”
“As we know, it’s tricky, but we will give our best to improve on what we are missing and to be fighting further up front. I think we really have the pace to do it. We just need to adjust a bit in some things to be further up front.”
Still on the hunt for his maiden F2 podium, the VAR driver will be hoping to tick another achievement off his list in the remaining rounds of the season.
