We’re Back At Zandvoort!
After a very strange race (if we can even call it a race), last weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix, we quickly move to the Netherlands for race number 2 of this triple header.
After 36 years, the F1 circus finally returns to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. It has been a long wait for the Dutch race fans, who have been wanting a Grand Prix ever since Max Verstappen joined the F1 Grid, and the time is finally here.
The Dutch Grand Prix was initially planned for last year, but was cancelled due to Covid; this year too, it was a close call. Only three weeks before the Grand Prix, the government gave green light for the fans to attend the race, but with the limitations that only ⅔ of the fans could attend every day. Even though they had to disappoint a part of the fans (including yours truly), the organization decided that the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix should go on.
By now, all the teams are setting up their garages, hospitalities and other equipment at the circuit in the lovely city of Zandvoort. In the coming days, approximately 200.000 race fans will travel toward the coastal village to be part of this event!
The race will take place at the CM.com Circuit Zandvoort. The circuit is located at a unique location, in the dunes, next to the famous beach of Zandvoort. Because there aren’t many roads that lead to Zandvoort, and most of them will be closed during the weekend of the Grand Prix, the public is asked to come by bike as much as possible. While knowing the Dutch people and their love for biking, I expect we will see a lot of F1 fans on their bikes going to the track - which will probably give us some great, unique images.
Apart from the many bikes that we will see, this race weekend will probably give us some amazing pictures of stands filled with people in orange. The majority of the fans attending the Grand Prix will be supporters of Max Verstappen, and as we have seen several times in Austria and Belgium, they have a habit of showing that a lot. Dressed completely in orange (yes, Lando, this is also for McLaren) and with the most interesting accessories the Dutch fans are well known for their way of expressing their support.
We can probably expect some parties on the stands, fans jumping from left to right on the music of the Snollebollekes (a Dutch party act) like we’ve previously seen at the Austrian GP in 2018, and ‘Supermax’ will most likely also be played many times during the weekend.
After the Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen is only 3 points behind his biggest rival Lewis Hamilton. This small gap in the championship standings and Max’ hunger for a win, especially during his home race, promises a very interesting race coming Sunday.
It might be an advantage for Verstappen that it is his home race and he has most of the fans standing behind him. He also knows the track pretty well, probably better than the other drivers, which could work in his favour. But the other drivers are well prepared and have spent hours in the simulator to get familiar with this track where they will, for the first time in their careers, run a Formula One race.
The Track's History...
The circuit of Zandvoort dates back to the 1930s. On June 3 1939, an international competition for race cars was organised for the first time in Dutch history - a street race through the streets of Zandvoort. A couple of thousand visitors attended the event, which was the main reason that the mayor back then decided that there should be a permanent circuit. The dunes in the north of Zandvoort were chosen as the right location.
World War II delayed the realisation of an actual circuit, and it was in 1946 that the actual construction of the race track was started. On the 7th of August 1948, the first race was held on the new permanent Zandvoort circuit. The race didn’t count for a championship but it did attract a lot of Formula 1 drivers to Zandvoort. The winner was Prince Bira of Siam. One year later, the event was organised under the name ‘‘Grote prijs van Zandvoort’’ (Grand Prix of Zandvoort). Ferrari won this race with driver Luigi Villoresi.
In the fifties, the name of the Formula 1 race was changed to ‘‘de Grote prijs van Nederland’’ (Grand Prix of the Netherlands). In 1952, Zandvoort became an official part of the World Championships calendar. The sixties were the combativeness of the famous drivers Graham Hill, Jim Clark, and Jackie Stewart. They all won at least one of the races at Zandvoort.
In the seventies, the circuit experienced an underwhelming period. In 1970 ‘‘ de Grote prijs van Nederland’’ was overshadowed due to the deadly accident of Piers Courage. In the back of the circuit, close to the east-tunnel, the British driver ran off the race track and died on the scene. In 1972, the security measurements at the circuit weren’t up to standard and the Formula 1 Grand Prix decided not to go to Zandvoort.
In 1973, an extra turn was added to the circuit, the Panorama turn. Other security requirements were covered and because of that de Grote Prijs van Nederland was able to come back for a race on the 29th of June. There was almost no time to celebrate because, during the 8th round of the race, Roger Williamson ran off the track. His car immediately caught fire and there were not enough extinguishing methods available. Racing driver David Purley stopped by the accident to help, but it wasn’t enough. The accident was fatal. The race was eventually won by Jacky Stewart. After some adjustments to the fire extinguishing material, Formula 1 came back to Zandvoort in 1974. That year, Niki Lauda won the race.
The last Formula 1 Grand Prix in the Netherlands was held on 25 August 1985, which was eventually won by Niki Lauda. This was at the same time, Lauda’s last Formula 1 win. Prost came in second, and the talented Ayrton Senna finished third.
Due to economic problems, they decided to shorten the circuit in 1988. This way there could still be national motorsport races, and people continued to talk about the option of getting Zandvoort back on the international map. For economic reasons, it was decided to invite Formula 3 drivers to come to Zandvoort to see who is the best F3 driver. The Marlboro Masters were born.
Many Masters winners ended up in Formula 1, and because of this, Zandvoort received more international recognition. Some examples of racing drivers who ended up in Formula 1 (because of a win in the Masters of Formula 3) are David Coulthard, Jos Verstappen and current F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.
In 2008, the 60th anniversary of the circuit was celebrated with the Anniversary races. Motorsport fans and the people of Zandvoort were treated to a big anniversary parade and a packed race schedule. After the event, everyone shared the same opinion: this event needed to be repeated.
In 2012, the first edition of the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort was held. Partly because of the extra noise days, Zandvoort became more and more popular. Circuit Zandvoort is a popular circuit among both teams and racing drivers. The friendly, incomparable Zandvoort hospitality and the unique atmosphere make Zandvoort a much sought-after track for international race series. It wasn’t long until ADAC GT Masters, FIA GT3 European Championship, FIA European Formula 3 Championship and Blancpain Sprint Series came to Zandvoort.
Zandvoort then continued to generate international attention, including large-scale popular events such as the ‘Jumbo Racing Days, driven by Max Verstappen’ in 2017, 2018 and 2019. More than 100,000 racing fans enjoyed an international racing programme, including the FIA WTCR World Cup and spectacular demonstrations by Max Verstappen. These successful editions helped to ensure that more and more attention was given to the potential at Circuit Zandvoort and that talks were started with Formula One Management. Subsequently, the return of the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix in 2020 could be announced on the 14th of May 2019. This was a unique development because no F1 GPs were held at Zandvoort for more than 30 years.
This good news also involved a challenging winter period. After all, Circuit Zandvoort had to be modified on a number of points within only four months available, to be well prepared for the arrival of Formula 1 and the required Grade 1 circuit licence.
Within the adjustments, two corners were also transformed into challenging banked corners. This would give the circuit more overtaking possibilities, while the unique circuit characteristics would be retained. In the short period of time given, all parties involved managed to complete the renovation of the circuit, with a Legendary Lap, the first official opening lap with an F1 car, performed by Max Verstappen on March 4th 2020, as the ultimate icing on the cake.
The Finer Details...
At a length of 4.3 kilometres, the circuit ranks among the shorter circuits on the F1 calendar: hardly anywhere else, drivers zoom past the race fans that often! Here, you won’t find seemingly endless asphalt-covered run-off areas, only merciless gravel beds. This means that there is no room for errors and that drivers will pay the price for even the tiniest mistake they make on the track. The highly challenging circuit features 14 corners and was recently upgraded to meet the highest standard whilst maintaining the unique character that makes CM.com Circuit Zandvoort stand out.
In the 1970s, modifications were made to the track and new safety features were implemented. The last Formula 1 Grand Prix to date was held in 1985. The construction of a new holiday resort resulted in the circuit being shortened to an interim layout in 1988. In 1999, the track was extended to a full GP length of 4.3 kilometres.
For the 2020 F1 Dutch Grand Prix, which eventually got cancelled, the circuit was adapted at some points. This same layout will be used during the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix.
The circuit now has a length of 4.259 kilometres and a height difference of 7.92 meters. The circuit has 14 corners, most of which have typical Dutch names and we’re curious to see which of the reporters and drivers manage to pronounce them all correctly. The names are as follows, with the numbers indicated between brackets:
Tarzan corner (1)
Gerlach corner (2)
Hugenholtz corner (3)
Hunserug (4)
Rob Slotemaker corner (5)
Scheivlak (6)
Masters corner (formerly Marlboro corner) (7)
Corner 8 (formerly Renault corner) (8)
Corner 9 (formerly the Vodafone) (9)
CM.com corner (formerly the Vodafone) (10)
Hans Ernst corner (formerly Audi S corner) (11 + 12)
Kumho corner (13)
Arie Luyendyk (formerly Bosuit) (14)
Turns 3 and 13/14 are extremely banked corners; turn 3 has a 19-degree bank while turns 13/14 have an 18-degree bank.
The sharpest corner is the Hans Ernst corner, and the fastest one is the Arie Luyendijk corner, the final corner leading to the start-finish straight. Scheivlak is a long bend to the right that can be taken quickly. It is located behind a dune so that a driver goes blindly into that corner. Then the track drops sharply. This is probably the most difficult corner of the circuit.
As a minimum of 305 kilometres has to be covered during a Grand Prix, the drivers will race this coming Sunday for 72 laps, setting the total race distance at 306.6 kilometres.
When asked, the current F1 drivers described the track as ‘really quick’, ‘pretty insane’, ‘crazy’ and ‘old-school’. It swoops and flows through the sand dunes, creating a real rollercoaster-like feel. This hopefully leads to some amazing track action during the weekend!
When To Watch:
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) We will see the Formula 1 cars all for the first time on the renovated track for a 1 hour free practice session at 11:30 local time.
(FRIDAY) The second practice session of the day and the weekend starts at 15:00 local time for the second hour.
(SATURDAY) The third and final practice session, usually a good indicator of the car’s pace, will take place from 12:00 local time.
(SATURDAY) Starting positions will be determined again in a qualifying session, which will start at 15:00 local time.
(SUNDAY) After 36 years there will finally be an F1 race on the circuit of Zandvoort, starting at 15:00 local time.
Formula 3:
(FRIDAY) F3 drivers only get one practice session lasting 45 minutes from 10:05 local time.
(FRIDAY) Qualifying for the F3 drivers starts at 13:50 local time and will last approximately half an hour.
(SATURDAY) On Saturday we will have the first race of this weekend, as the F3 cars will race 24 laps (or 40 minutes), starting at 10:35 local time.
(SATURDAY) The second race, again 24 laps or 40 minutes, is scheduled for the end of the day, starting at 17:55 local time.
(SUNDAY) F3 weekend concludes its race weekend with the third race on Sunday morning, 10:45 local time.
W Series:
(FRIDAY) The female drivers also only get one practice session to get familiar with the car and the track. This will start at 12:55 local time and will last around 30 minutes.
(FRIDAY) A qualifying session follows later that day at 16:30.
(SATURDAY) The race for the W series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, starting at 16:30. The women will race for 30 minutes + 1 lap.
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright intended)
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