PRIXVIEW – Dutch Grand Prix

The second half of the 2023 and penultimate race of the European season brings F1 to the coast of The Netherlands and the resort of Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. The town returned to the calendar in 2021 the 2.646-mile circuit has always been popular since it first held a non-championship race in 1950.

Zandvoort connection to Grand Prix racing began in the 1930s, but the building of the modern circuit didn’t begin life until after the second world war. The main straight had been originally built after the mayor convinced the Germans to allow them to construct a straight road through the dunes down which the Germans could hold impressive parades once victory had been achieved.

From its earliest days and since its return to the calendar, Zandvoort has been a hugely poplar circuit with drivers and fans, it’s a medium-speed flowing circuit similar to Suzuka. But that shouldn’t be a surprise because the two circuits were designed originally partly by the Dutch journalist turned-designer John Hugenholtz.

Although often credited with designing the Zandvoort circuit as well, the layout was largely dictated by the existing road layout, with Sammy Davis acting as the principal design consultant. The first sector largely follows the original layout before the newer section first built in the 1980s after F1 left the circuit.

Zandvoort is very similar in characteristics to Suzuka, a tight twisty circuit through the dunes. Tarzan the first corner was reprofiled for the sport’s return with banking, it provides drivers with several different lines. But it has other banked corners Gerlanch and the almost bowl-shaped hairpin Hugenholtz as well as Turn Twelve.

Throughout its history, Zandvoort has been a popular circuit with drivers, as it’s an old circuit meaning the risk versus reward is higher because of the fast sweeping corners. But its also a circuit where you need a bit of straight-line speed for the final sector and

The new circuit was first built in the 1980s but the basis for the new Grand Prix circuit wouldn’t come until 2001. This was designed by the company owned by John Hugenholtz jr, creating the basis for the modern Grand Prix circuit which was built in 2018-2020.

The first two Grands Prix at Zandvoort were non-championship Grands Prix but it featured on the first F1 season before becoming a fully-fledged championship race in 1952. It however was first held two years prior to the formation of the F1 championship, featuring two races, something similar to the sprint and grand prix.

The winner being Prince Bira, after beating Tony Rolt by a second despite being fourth on the grid. The two separated by a single car length at the chequered flag, Bira’s engine screaming as he did not want to risk losing ground with a gear change. Leslie Brooke ran third before stopping for oil and going on to finish sixth.

In what was a dominant 1955 season for Mercedes saw Juan Manuel Fangio beat his teammate, Sir Stirling Moss. Moss would win the next race driving for Vanwall in 1956, Moss won again in 1958. Jo Bonnier took his only win in 1959.

In the mid-sixties, the race was dominated by Jim Clark, with the Lotus 49 taking victory on debut in 1967. The DFV engine became hugely popular and is the most successful power unit in F1 history remaining in use for the next eighteen years.

The 1970s saw Zandvoort have many fatal accidents the Williams driver Piers Courage, when he crashed at Oost with a wheel, came off and hit him on the head. The car, with Courage still in it, then caught fire and burned to the ground. 1973 saw yet another driver killed, on lap eight when Roger Williamson crashed, ultimately killing him.

Sir Jackie Stewart won that race to become the then most successful driver in the sport’s history taking a twenty-sixth career win by fifteen seconds ahead of Tyrrell teammate Francois Cevert.

1975 saw James Hunt win his first championship Formula One race in his Hesketh. Hunt would win again in 1976, as Lauda recovered from his crash at the Nürburgring. Hunt’s battle with Mario Andretti was a defining movement in the following year’s race, the American attempted an ambitious move to pass the Englishman at Tarzan, they touch taking them both out of the race.

1979 saw a change to the circuit to slow cars coming into Tunnel Oost; there was a high-speed temporary chicane put there. Gilles Villeneuve had crashed there while battling ferociously with Alan Jones and damaged his left-rear suspension. However, Jones continued despite going off at Tarzan, but at half distance the cars left rear rim and wheel with the suspension totally shattered was being dragged by the car as it went along; which made the Ferrari nearly impossible to drive.

The 1982 event was won by Frenchman Didier Pironi in a Ferrari; his countryman René Arnoux had a dreadful crash at the end of the pit straight going into Tarzan; his front suspension failed on his ground-effect Renault and he went head-on into the barriers; fortunately, he was uninjured

1983 saw a clash between Prost and title rival Nelson Piquet. Prost tried to pass Piquet at Tarzan but the Frenchman punted Piquet off and Prost crashed soon afterwards. 1985 saw Lauda take his 25th and final Grand Prix victory while holding off his charging McLaren teammate Prost near the end of the race.

The race was revived for the 2020 season, before being cancelled due to the pandemic the rise of Max Verstappen was the main factor in reviving the race and its absence is one of the longest along with Las Vegas which returns in November. The Orange Army dominates the circuit creating a festival atmosphere, very much like the Tosfi at Monza.

Verstappen won the first race back at Zandvoort from pole position dominating to take his seventh win of the season in 2021, while title rival Lewis  Hamilton was second. Can he make it three in a row this season?

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• The first Grand Prix at the track was won by Prince Bira, pre-world championship, the only Thai driver to race in F1 until Alexander Albon made his debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.
• Carel Godin de Beaufort, Gijs van Lennep and Max Verstappen were the only Dutch drivers to have scored a point in their home race, after finishing sixth in 1962 and 1973 respectively, while Verstappen was the first Dutchman to win his home race and races back to back.
• Max Verstappen gave the Netherlands their first home winner at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. The nation became the twelfth to have a home winner in Formula 1. It was the first time a new country has joined that particular list since Fernando Alonso won his home race for the first time at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix.
• Jim Clark has led the most laps of any driver at Zandvoort, leading 370 laps. Alberto Ascari and Niki Lauda are second in the all-time list, having led 180 laps – almost 200 less than Clark!

Event timetable

What happened in 2022?

Max Verstappen beat his championship rival Charles Leclerc by two-hundredths of a second to take pole position. However, the Ferrari driver didn’t get a second run in after Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez dipped the wheel onto the gravel at Kumhobocht on his final lap. That sent the Mexican into a spin across the gravel bringing out the yellow flag and that brought an anti-climax in what was set to be a very close session.

Mercedes had what was then their most competitive qualifying session of the year Lewis Hamilton was second behind Verstappen in the first session and George Russell in the same place behind Leclerc by just a hundredth in the second. However, Russell’s representative lap in Q3 was wrecked by Perez’s spin.

Verstappen continued his run of wins taking back-to-back wins at Zandvoort, he took the lead on the final restart overtaking Hamilton with ten laps to go. The Dutchman undercut the Mercedes using the undercut during the safety car then launched his way passed Hamilton.

Mercedes looked to have been on course for their first one-two of the season as the car showed to have better pace in the latter stages of the race, but it resulted in Hamilton dropping to fourth while Russell couldn’t chase down Verstappen on the final restart. Charles Leclerc also found his way past Hamilton, to take second.

But Ferrari’s race also unravelled when they didn’t have the tyres ready for Carlos Sainz at his first stop, which also saw Leclerc lose out to Hamilton, with the Silver Arrows going for a one-stop race.

Sainz’s race unravelled at his first pit stop when the team did not have his left rear tyre ready, Mattia Binotto said the call for him to pit had been made too late, when he was in the final corner and did not give the mechanics time to ready the tyres.

Race Result – 1) M. Verstappen, Red Bull 01:36:42.773 | 2) G. Russell, Mercedes, +00:04.071  | 3) C. Leclerc, Ferrari, +00:10.929

What to watch for?

Max Verstappen goes into this weekend as the favourite as he looks for his third home win in a row as well as winning every race since taking the lead in Miami back in May. He has won both races at Zandvoort since it returned to the calendar in 2021, again a third win would be his third double home win having won at Spa as well.

Verstappen has home advantage, while that is more mental that can boost a driver’s performance, and we have seen how many Dutch fans attend races. This race has become Verstappenfest they all want him to win and it has become like Monza and Ferrari. He has a six-race win advantage or a hundred- and fifty-two-point lead, which history tells us is very difficult but not impossible to overturn the advantage

This circuit appears to suit his driving style and is in my view one which is a hybrid between a high speed and more technical circuit. But the way Red Bull is dominating at the moment they can win anywhere, I think the question for the second half of the season is, can Sergio Perez start a resurgence to close Verstappen’s charge towards a third title? I think however it looks difficult. It is likely that either at Zandvoort or Monza, we see the teams bring their final big update of the season.

Verstappen leads the drivers championship by a hundred and twenty-six points or five wins and a fastest lap, and the Dutchman not scoring in five races and one fastest lap, for Perez to tie or overtake him. Red Bull led Mercedes by two hundred and fifty-six points in the constructors. There is a maximum of three hundred and ten points remaining this season.

I think the other thing to watch is Mercedes’s re-emergence I had this feeling before the summer break they had moved ahead of Aston Martin, I think they would have used the summer break too look at how they continue to move forwards is good. Mercedes, I think now have this platform, and target they have set themselves for 2024 to fight for the title next year.

Ferrari will be wanting a good result as well, this season because of the dominance of Red Bull they have not been challenging for race wins and while they are second Mercedes appear to have closed the gap. But over the next month, I believe we may get a plot line developed.

Mercedes and Ferrari need to make a big call in this second half of the season, by accident due to two races being cancelled (Shanghai and Imola) we have the same number of Grands Prix and sprint races in the second half. The challenge they face between now and the end of the season is closing that gap is difficult, a few races are going to be interesting to see if they can stop Red Bull winning every race this year.

Upgrade watch is again in play, though we have the two week shutdown in August that doesn’t tend to stop the teams from bringing upgrades to either to Zandvoort or Monza. We know its harder to bring upgrades to flyway races, but not impossible so it’s likely these are likely to be the last upgrades of the year

2022 vs 2021 Race Data

2022 Lap time comparison

Tyres