Van Amersfoort began competing in Formula Opel Lotus Benelux, Dutch Formula Ford, and related national series. Their first major success came in 1989, winning the Formula Ford 1600 Netherlands championship with Marcel Albers. Jos Verstappen drove for the team in 1992, winning the Formula Opel Lotus Benelux series — an early pointer to VAR's developing eye for future talent.
VAR entered the German Formula Three Championship in 1997 with Bas Leinders. The following year, Leinders and new signing Christijan Albers dominated: the pair won nine of twenty races, with Leinders taking the championship title — the team's first F3 drivers' crown. A second championship followed in 2007 with Carlo van Dam, who won eleven races from eighteen. Laurens Vanthoor won the title again in 2009, matching van Dam's eleven victories and giving VAR three German F3 championships in total over the period.
Richie Stanaway surpassed even those totals in 2011, winning thirteen races from eighteen to claim the championship. The following season, Lucas Auer and René Binder were race winners but were narrowly beaten to the title by Motopark's Jimmy Eriksson.
VAR transitioned to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship from 2013. The defining campaign of this era came in 2014, when Max Verstappen — making his single-seater debut — won ten races including six in succession at Spa and Norisring, finishing third in the championship as a rookie. Charles Leclerc drove for the team in 2015, winning races and finishing in the top five of the standings. In ADAC Formula 4, the team signed Mick Schumacher in 2015; he scored a race win in his debut season.
The 2016 season brought Anthoine Hubert, Callum Ilott, Harrison Newey, and Pedro Piquet to the European F3 roster, with Ilott and Hubert winning races. Joey Mawson won the 2016 ADAC F4 title for the team by a narrow four-and-a-half-point margin. Filip Drugovich came close to the 2017 ADAC F4 championship, losing the title battle to Prema in the final round.
For 2018, Sophia Flörsch drove in European F3, while Liam Lawson and Frederik Vesti led the ADAC F4 campaign. Lawson finished runner-up in ADAC F4 — a result that preceded his rise to Formula One.
In 2019, Dennis Hauger won the Italian Formula 4 Championship for Van Amersfoort Racing by 136 points, and the team also claimed the Italian F4 teams' title. Hauger finished second in ADAC F4 that same year. The team participated in the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship after the Formula European Masters was cancelled.
From 2022, VAR replaced HWA Racelab in FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3, escalating the team to the top levels of the FIA single-seater ladder. Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto subsequently drove for the team on their respective paths to Formula One.
With ten alumni reaching Formula One — Jos Verstappen, Christijan Albers, Kevin Magnussen, Giedo van der Garde, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, and Franco Colapinto — Van Amersfoort Racing stands as one of the most consistently productive development teams in European motorsport. Founded nearly fifty years ago as a regional Dutch outfit, it has evolved into a fully-fledged feeder team operating at the top of the FIA's junior pyramid.