Varrone reflects on ‘up and down’ debut Formula 2 season heading into the summer break

Nico Varrone has been reflecting on his rookie FIA Formula 2 season, talking about the positives and negatives.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver has finished in the points twice – in the Miami Sprint and Montreal Feature Race – and sits 19th in the Standings with 14 points.

But that does not quite tell the full story of Varrone’s season, as he explained when assessing his start to life in the second tier.

“It's been an up and down season,” said Varrone. “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.

“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.”

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When asked what areas of Formula 2 he has adapted well too and those that he has struggled with, Varrone highlighted the differences in his performances in Qualifying and the races.

“It's difficult to say,” he said. “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.”

When pushed for a highlight from the season, Varrone responded: “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. 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.”

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Looking ahead, Varrone shared what he hopes to achieve before the season’s end. The Argentine could not pick out a specific result he would like, with his focus mainly being on improving their performance.

“It's difficult to say, always as a driver you want to be as high as possible,” he added. “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.”