The iconic team from the Netherlands had every reason to celebrate: for the second year in a row, Van Amersfoort Racing won the Team championship in ADAC Formula 4. The title race between the Dutch and the German US Racing team went right down to the season finale. Only in the final race of the season did the team including newly-crowned champion Oliver Bearman (16, Great Britain) wrap up the title. This success means that Van Amersfoort Racing won the title in all three competitions in the 2021 season. As well as Bearman’s triumph in the Drivers’ Championship, VAR driver Nikita Bedrin (15, Russia) also won the Rookie classification.

Team principal Frits van Amersfoort was overjoyed to win the title: “It goes without saying that we are very happy with the results we have achieved this year in F4 racing,” he stressed. “This is the first time that one team has won all of the titles on offer, in both the German and the Italian F4 championships, so I am very proud of the team. This would not have been possible without the extremely hard work and commitment shown by the team and drivers. It was definitely not an easy year, which makes these results even more valuable and satisfying.”

As well as Bearman and Bedrin, Joshua Dufek (16, Switzerland), Bence Valint (16, Hungary) and Cenyu Han (16, China) also started for the team this year. Both Dufek and Han made it onto the podium during the season and, as such, played a crucial role in the Dutch winning the title.

The team listed the ADAC Formula 4 champion among their ranks for the third time in 2021. In 2016 it was Joey Mawson (25, Australia) who won the first Driver title for the Dutch outfit. The Australian had previously finished runner-up in 2015 and, with 15 race wins to his name, remains the driver with the most victories in ADAC Formula 4.

Four years later, in 2020, Jonny Edgar (17, Great Britain) followed in Mawson’s footsteps as champion. And this year, Edgar’s compatriot Oliver Bearman made it a hat-trick of Driver titles. Furthermore, Liam Lawson (19, New Zealand) in 2018, Dennis Hauger (18, Norway) in 2019 and Jak Crawford (16, USA) in 2020 have ended the season as runners-up. Felipe Drugovich (21, Brazil) was third overall in 2017, while Frederik Vesti (19, Denmark) finished fourth in the 2018 season.

The iconic Dutch team, which was founded in 1975 by Frits van Amersfoort, has been involved in ADAC Formula 4 since the series was launched in 2015 and can look back on some extremely successful years. As well as successes in ADAC Formula 4, the team has also won titles internationally in the past, including Italian Formula 4 and the Formula 3 European Championship.

Over the years, the team from Zeewolde has increasingly made a name for itself as a talent factory: for example, Jos Verstappen started for the team in 1992, dominating the Formula Opel Lotus series at the time. Verstappen’s success opened the door to other talented drivers, as it soon became clear that anyone who performed at Van Amersfoort Racing would have opportunities to progress on the international motorsport scene.

The list of well-known drivers who cut their motorsport teeth at Van Amersfoort is never-ending. Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen was among the team’s drivers in 2008. Other big-name drivers included Jaap van Lagen, Lucas Auer and Giedo van der Garde.

The latest big names to have started at Van Amersfoort Racing and then make the step up to the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1, are Max Verstappen, whose father Jos had earlier driven for Van Amersfoort Racing, Charles Leclerc, and 2016 ADAC Formula 4 runner-up Mick Schumacher, who made his debut with VAR in 2015.