Rafael Villagómez confirms his struggles in performance as well as the disappointing series of results he believes he had obtained prior to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for himself and the Van Amersfoort Racing team.
Additionally, the Sprint Race produced further woes for his campaign. Speaking with InsideF2 writer, Aaron Harper, Villagómez admitted:
“Not great, not a good start, we went all the way back to 19th. And then the race was a bit boring, plus the hard compound was a little bit less exciting than other races.”
Undoubtedly, Silverstone is well known for its unpredictability in terms of weather conditions as fellow fans trackside had recorded some patches of rain during the other support series’ races throughout the weekend.
However could this possibility of causing carnage for the competition pull the results in favour of the Mexican driver, and is it something that he would like to see for the Feature Race on Sunday?
“I’m gonna go for the rain, something exciting and different. We’re in the UK and we didn’t get any rain so far so we need to get something exciting and different at least.”
It’s no surprise that this is the case due to his experience at the circuit, so what is the key to success at a track that he admits he likes the most in the 2025 calendar?
“I think it’s a beautiful track for me, at least it’s my favourite and will always be the best one. It just had a combination of everything and I think it was my first F1 track being in F4 and then you come here and it’s impressive so that memory will always be there.
“It’s pretty challenging to get all the sequences right because you have a lot of high-speed and long straights so you need to find the right compromise by carrying enough speed but having a good exit.”
Throughout the problems Villagómez has faced during the first part of the season, there have been some moments where his talent has shone through during his second season with the team.
In his previous outing in Spain, he had gained a third place position in taking an opportunity from the late red flag and earned two more previous points finishes through all race types.
“It’s been pretty up and down, I think we were strong in Bahrain and then we struggled a little bit, myself and the team going in different directions and trying to fix issues.
“During testing, we saw that the speed was there and have shown that there was potential, but it’s pretty much about getting there during Qualifying.
“I think looking at the bigger picture where we struggle the most is Free Practice cause we always start pretty far behind and then we need to catch up a lot, like this weekend, we were quite far behind.
“In Free Practice, we need to make that ground up compared to other guys in Qualifying and with one lap or two laps really. In this track it’s always really difficult to nail it.”
By digging further into the issues the team are facing, is there a chance that more work needs to be completed on the simulators to ensure a decent result?
“It’s just a combination of everything, to be fair the simulator could be improved for sure but I wouldn’t say it’s the main issue because we’ve tried different ones and the outcome is pretty much the same.”
If there’s one thing for certain, his home support is no reason for his lack of pace during a race weekend as he feels much love from his few fans:
“I don’t know if there’s a lot! So far the support has been fantastic in other rounds, I think the majority of guys that follow me are from Mexico and the races are pretty early but they still watch it. It means a lot, I’m pretty jealous of John (Bennett) that he is racing at his home race, I wish I had that.”
The F2 British Grand Prix weekend continues on Sunday the 6th of July, with the Feature Race commencing at 9:00 local time.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
