A mixed bag in performance: Rafael Villagómez on his 2024 season so far

Rafael Villagómez has two rounds left in his rookie Formula 2 campaign and as he reflected on the year so far, he was able to pick out both the positives and negatives of his season.
The Van Amersfoort Racing driver has scored points in several races so far but it is not in the Saturday Sprint or Sunday Feature where he feels he is struggling.
It is his Qualifying form has been Villagómez’s main area of concern, with his P14 result back at the season opener in Sakhir still his best Friday performance of the campaign.
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“I think it’s been a year of good stuff and also bad stuff,” said Villagómez. “So, like good moments where we showed we had the speed and also moments where we struggled a little bit more.
“For myself Qualifying has been the weak point so far, like we have seen the race pace with the team is pretty strong majority of the time but if you don’t really qualify well in this championship, it’s pretty difficult to have a good weekend.
“So, to sum it up we’ve had a pretty difficult time in Qualifying but majority of the races the pace is there.”
When asked what has caused his Qualifying struggles, Villagómez replied: “It’s a mix of everything, if I had the answer I would have fixed it straightaway.
“But obviously you go from Free Practice where the track is pretty dirty, and you’re on a different compound and then you jump in Qualifying after F1 has driven and F3 Qualifying, then it’s a much better track.
“Then you put a softer compound on and we always seem to struggle with the balance a little bit there and we don’t seem to have the same amount of grip as other teams.”
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But looking at the positives, Villagómez is very pleased with their race pace which he says has been strong since pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
He says this means that he usually leaves the track on Friday “a little bit disappointed” but also optimistic for the rest of the weekend. This was the story of his three days in Monza which he says were his best of the season.
The Mexican driver finished the Feature Race eighth after starting in P16 and while delighted to score points, he was even happier to be battling near the top five.
“I wish the last race was Monza because that was quite good,” he continued. “The pace was quite strong as a team, to be fair there has not been one race where I was like quite satisfied with, so that’s still yet to come, hopefully when we do the next interview, I can tell you one.
“But the best one I can take is Monza. We had enough moments at the start that killed our strategy, but then we still managed to be fighting near the top five. We finished eighth, but we managed to fight with the guys in front and that was quite good.”
Villagómez was talking after jumping out of the VAR simulator where he has been hard at work preparing for the next round in Lusail, the newest venue on the F2 calendar.
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That trip kicks off a double header to end the season with the finale at Yas Marina a week later. Speaking about those two weekends, he is keen to show signs of progress, especially in Qualifying.
“I want to make sure I do a better job in Qualifying,” concluded Villagómez. “As I said at the start, I haven’t been doing a good job so I want to make sure that is correct.
“I don’t want to put numbers on it, but as long as there is an improvement in positions, we can build up weekend after weekend, I can be, not satisfied, but happy with the end of the year.”