© Getty ImagesPreviously At The Dutch Grand PrixThe Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort packs a lot of race into a very small space. It’s cramped, it’s loud, it’s brilliant…
OnAugust25th,1985,NikiLaudaledteam-mateAlainProstoverthelinetowintheDutchGrandPrixby0.232seconds.Thecrowdhad48secondstoapplaudwhatturnedouttobeLauda’sfinalF1victorybeforeAyrtonSennacrossedthelinetocompletethepodium.TheythentraipsedbackacrossthedunestotheseasidetownofZandvoort,unawaretheWorldChampionshipwouldnotbereturningtotheNetherlandsfor36years.
For 1986, the Dutch Grand Prix, which had been on the provisional calendar, disappeared when the promoter went bust. Superficially, its August slot was taken by a daring new race behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary, and the Dutch Grand Prix soon passed out of memory – but Zandvoort remained a mainstay of the European racing scene, with all manner of single-seaters and tintops visiting the province of North Holland for a blast around the narrow, twisting circuit for the motor racing equivalent of links golf, with the wind howling in off the North Sea. No-one particularly considered it a viable venue for F1 anymore, consigned within that group of classic circuits deemed too tight, and too logistically challenging to host the fastest single-seaters on the planet and their huge logistical circus. Then Max Verstappen arrived on the F1 scene and… well, things change fast, don’t they?
In truth, we’ve been big supporters of F1 being at Zandvoort since long before Max arrived on the scene, with our live demo cars being regular attendees at the Spring motorsport festivals held at the circuit, at which the appetite for F1 in The Netherlands was clear to see. That said, many of the issues that made Zandvoort unsuitable for the Championship are still evident.
The construction of the new banking sections has given the track an added dimension but the pit-lane is still short, the garages cramped and access to the circuit is difficult, given the vast army of oranje-clad fans that want to make the trip – but the fact they do want to make the trip makes it all worthwhile for us. It’s cramped – but the atmosphere is electric, which hasn’t been hurt by Max winning both races since the resumption…
Zandvoort in 2021 provided everything the paddock expected – and a few things it did not. The two banked sections of track, at Turn Three (Hugenholtz) and Turn 14 (Arie Luyendyk) were of huge interest – F1 not having faced a genuine banked corner since 2007. While the talk was of high lines and low lines, Pirelli had toughed-up their constructions to cope with the loads.
In the final analysis, the tyres coped fine with the race being split between one- and two-stop strategies but a cautious approach by race control had the primary DRS zone begin on the start-finish straight after the final corner, rather before the banking as was originally intended. It moved overtaking on the narrow circuit out of the ‘difficult’ group and into the ‘almost impossible’ category. This was going to be a grand prix with a Monaco-like reliance on qualifying position.
But, like Monaco, qualifying at Zandvoort involved as much luck as judgement, with the spectre of flags haunting proceedings. Practice had been heavily disrupted by red flags, but it was sheer volume of traffic that prevented Checo getting out of Q1, while the rest of the session was a stop-start affair with a string of cars sliding off into the gravel traps.
When the dust – quite literally – settled, it was Max on pole, three-hundredths of a second ahead of championship rival Lewis Hamilton. Perhaps of greater concern for Max was having the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in P3, with the two Mercedes having potential to bracket him on opposing strategies. It did at least give Max a straightforward job: get off the line well, push hard, and react to those behind. He did it perfectly: pitting a lap after Hamilton to cover, then catching a long-running Bottas and making a decisive pass on the fresh rubber.
After that, there was no catching him. For good measure, Checo put in some blistering overtakes to make his way up to P8, including an incredibly brave move around the outside at Tarzan on Lando Norris, but as the billowing orange smoke proclaimed, this was Max’s day.
In 2021, Zandvoort gave every impression of being close to bursting at the seams. 195,000 fans came out to the dunes to watch the race, though the organisers insisted this was the cautious approach, limiting numbers to ensure a smooth re-entry for the classic venue.
After the great success of the first race, however, the gloves came off and capacity for the weekend in 2022 was raised to an instantly-sold-out 305,000 – though this engendered some puzzlement in the paddock: it was difficult to imagine how more people could be crammed into the diminutive venue. The results were astounding, with the upshot being one of the most raucous grands prix the team has ever seen – and that was before Afrojack played a pre-race set on the grid loud enough to vibrate the fillings. It wasn’t a particularly easy venue at which to move between the [separated] paddock and pitlane, but the atmosphere was spectacular – particularly when Max held-off Charles Leclerc to take a second pole position.
Overtaking was easier in 2022 with the main DRS zone beginning before the final, banked corner but Max managed to negate the risk by getting out of DRS range before DRS became available. On an overcast, blustery day Max looked like he had everything under control – but after 2021, where a complicated build-up was followed by a regulation race, in 2022 it was Sunday where the wildcards came into play.
Max covered Leclerc with his pit-stop and then had to catch and overhaul the resurgent and long-running Mercedes. He completed that job only for a Virtual Safety Car for Yuki Tsunoda, followed by a full Safety Car for Valtteri Bottas to throw the race into confusion. Second and third stops for Max left him lying second behind Hamilton with 11 laps to run as the Safety Car pulled in – but the drama proved to be short-lived, Max getting off the banking well and sweeping into the lead of the field to cross the line. He celebrated another win, the crowd went wild, and the team made a hurried exit and moved on to the relative tranquillity of Monza.
