Formula 1 News: 2024 Dutch GP at Zandvoort Preview
The second half of the 2024 FIA F1 World Championship season will begin with Round 15, the Dutch Grand Prix, at Circuit Zandvoort.
The seaside resort of Zandvoort has long attracted vacationers from nearby capital Amsterdam, and in the late 1930s a race was held around the town’s streets. After the Second World War a permanent track was laid out through Zandvoort’s sand dunes and elite-level motorsport graced the Netherlands for decades.
After 1985 Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix was discontinued, and Zandvoort’s layout was shortened, but the rise of national hero Max Verstappen raised the notion of the event returning to the championship. In 2021, after a year’s delay due to the pandemic, the Dutch Grand Prix was revived, and Formula 1 returned to the venue for the first time in 36 years.
Circuit Zandvoort is old school and while the facility was brought up to Formula 1 standards – with redesigned run-offs and barriers – the layout remained fundamentally unchanged. The circuit features a mixture of fast and flowing curves, most notably the right-hand plunge through Scheivlak, alongside slower and more technical turns in the middle sector.
Zandvoort is a fantastic place to resume the season. It’s a challenging track with an old-school feel; banked corners and high-speed sections undulating through the dunes. There’s always an incredible atmosphere with the passionate Dutch fans and it’s always a fantastic celebration of our sport. I’m sure this year will be no different and I’m excited to get there.
The most striking revisions came to two corners that had banking added, providing an additional challenge, while promoting a variety of racing lines. Turn 3, Hugenholtz, has 18-degree banking while the final corner, Arie Luyendykbocht, features 15–18-degree banking as it propels drivers towards the pit straight.
The back to back races in Zandvoort and Monza, which start the second half of the season, are a fascinating pairing. Monza is a low downforce circuit, hosts the second ATA event of 2023, and will use the softest of the Pirelli tire compounds. In stark contrast, this weekend is a standard event on the short, twisty Zandvoort track with the hardest of the Pirelli tire compounds.
The Zandvoort circuit sits right on the coast, but mostly sheltered by the surrounding dunes. The circuit is characterized by heavy banking in several corners, including the final corner, which contains a section of DRS deployment. The overall layout and placement of the curbs can lead to car damage, and the drivers will need to be mindful of the risk-reward trade at this track.
The circuit places a heavy demand on the tires, and therefore we have some of the hardest compounds available, which should work well here, especially if the track is hot. Overtaking is difficult, and so there is a premium on race strategy and suitable management of the tires.
Passing another car is pretty difficult at Zandvoort, as the track is narrow and generally twisty. It means that qualifying has great importance here. Apart from the straight, there is another DRS zone between turns 10 and 11.
Race Statistics
Lap distance: 4.259km. Total distance: 306.587km (72 laps)
2023 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull One minute 10.567 seconds.
2023 race winner: Verstappen, Red Bull. Verstappen has won all three races from pole position since the race returned to the F1 calendar.
Race lap record: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:11.097 (2021)
Start time: 1300GMT (9:00 Eastern Time)
Weather Forecast
Friday: Free Practice 1 & 2
The daytime forecast suggests temperatures reaching a high of 22°C with winds from the southwest at 20 to 30 mph and gusts topping 40 mph. There’s a 40% chance of rain with afternoon showers likely, which might give teams their first taste of a wet track. By night, the temperature will drop to a low of 17°C, and the chance of rain increases to 50%, maintaining the unpredictable conditions.
Saturday: Free Practice 3 & Qualifying
The weather concern extends into Saturday. Morning showers are forecasted with a 50% chance of rain and slightly cooler daytime temperatures peaking at 20°C. The winds will shift slightly to west-southwest but will remain moderate at 10 to 20 mph. Conditions are expected to improve slightly by Sunday, with the rainfall probability dropping to 24% during the race. However, the winds will persist, and the track may still present slick spots and challenges to the drivers.
Sunday: Grand Prix
As Sunday approaches, all eyes will be on the weather as much as the track. While the light reduction in rain probability offers some hope for a dry race, the implications of earlier sessions under wet conditions could still influence the final outcomes.
Defending Champion Max Verstappen’s view
“It was good to spend some time relaxing with family and friends over the summer break and we are feeling refreshed and ready for the second half of the season.
“It is great to start it back at my home race; it is always a fantastic atmosphere, and the fans are incredible, so it is a special one for me.
“It is a great circuit, with its short straights and narrow track and hopefully we can come back even stronger for this race. We are looking forward to the week ahead and hopefully we can be fighting for the win.”
Robert Shwartzman gets another run
Robert Shwartzman will take part in FP1 for Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The young driver, a Ferrari reserve driver in this year’s Formula One season, will take over Valtteri Bottas’s seat for the session, with the Finn resuming driving duties for the remainder of the weekend.
As in previous occasions, the Sauber team works in partnership with engine supplier Ferrari to give young talent an opportunity in practice sessions.
Fact File: Dutch Grand Prix
- After tackling the longest track of the season in Spa, we head to the second shortest and Zandvoort; it clocks in at just 4.259 km.
- It is perhaps no surprise therefore that we see the second-highest lap total of the year here at 72 for Sunday’s Grand Prix. That is just six short of the number we complete at the Monaco Grand Prix, the highest total of the season.
- The circuit features 14 corners, four to the left and 10 to the right.
- Zandvoort doesn’t feature many long straights, and a lot of the lap is spent in these 14 corners. It’s therefore a track with low-power sensitivity and engine duty, so the Power Unit isn’t put through as much strain as at other circuits.
- Just 55% of the total lap time is spent at full throttle, which equates to just over 65% of the lap distance. It is most similar in characteristics to Interlagos in Sao Paulo in that sense.
- In general, Zandvoort has an old-school feel, with fast and flowing turns, a mix of corner speeds, undulations, gravel traps and banked turns. It puts many aspects of an F1 car to the test.
- Zandvoort is nestled in the rolling sand dunes and next to the beach on the West coast of the Netherlands. The main straight is the closest part to the coast and the back section winds its way through the dunes.
- Because of the many high-speed changes of direction, where the mass of the car can work against you, Zandvoort has the highest mass sensitivity of the year – which means, carrying more fuel will be more penalizing.
- Zandvoort has one of the quickest lap times of the season and is the second shortest circuit in length after Monaco.
- The 72-lap race distance is the second most on the calendar (also after Monaco).
- It is the third highest track for downforce sensitivity, which means maximum or very high downforce is required. The only two tracks that rank higher than Zandvoort are Budapest and Monaco.
- The Zandvoort pit lane is one of three on the calendar to have a 60 km/h speed limit, rather than the usual 80. The other circuits are Monaco, and Singapore.
- For 2024, the pit building in Zandvoort has been extended by six garages.
Pirelli Perspective
What makes this track really unique on the championship trail are the banked turns 3 and 14, with a gradient of 19 and 18 degrees respectively, which for a point of reference is steeper than that found at Indianapolis.
Banked corners are not that common in Formula 1 and therefore present an unusual challenge for both car and driver. It also has an effect on the tires, because the higher speeds of the banked turns compared to the normal ones subjects them to even greater forces. That explains why the dry weather compounds chosen for Zandvoort are the three hardest in the 2024 range, used since the introduction of the 18” tires: C1 as P Zero White hard, the C2 as P Zero Yellow medium and the C3 as P Zero Red soft.
On paper, thermal degradation is a very significant factor, but much will depend on the weather in late August. The Netherlands borders Belgium, and we saw before the break how climatic conditions at these latitudes can change from one day to the next and even within the space of a day, so that summer doesn’t necessarily mean warm temperatures and sunshine. The average temperature in Zandvoort in late August varies between 14 °C and 20 °C, which could help drivers manage even the softest compounds, as was seen in last year’s race when Tsunoda ran 50 laps on the Soft. A further variable results from the track’s proximity to the sea shore, just one row of dunes and a street away, so that wind often coats the track with sand, thus lowering the grip available to the tires.
Conditions changed so much during last year’s race that all five types of available tire were used. The most popular slick was the Soft, chosen for the start by 19 of the 20 drivers, Hamilton being the only one to opt for the Medium. The rain arrived immediately after the start, bringing the Cinturato Intermediate into play, and it was then required again for the final stages, after a long spell where slicks were used. Three drivers, the Red Bull pair and Esteban Ocon, even tried out the Cinturato Wet. There were a lot of overtaking moves and a record 82 pit stops.
In stable dry conditions, pre-event simulations point to a one-stop as the quickest strategy, especially as in theory, overtaking is a rare event, because the track is very narrow and there are few straights, therefore very limited passing opportunities. If it is hot, then the harder compounds should be favorite, but cooler weather would see the Soft become a viable race tire.
The Zandvoort circuit has hosted all 33 editions of the Dutch Grand Prix counting towards the Formula 1 World Championship, dating back to 1952. Scotland’s Jim Clark won here four times, a record that could be equalled this year by Max Verstappen, who has won all three races since Formula 1 returned to the Netherlands.
In Saturday’s qualifying, the Red Bull driver could also top the table for pole positions here, as he is currently equal with René Arnoux on three. When it comes to the most podium finishes, this record is also held jointly by Jim Clark and Niki Lauda with six apiece. Among the teams, Ferrari leads the way for wins (8) and podium finishes (25) while, on eight, Lotus has the most pole positions
