The challenges of the Dutch Road Trip

Published on 05 May 2020 by Niels Hendrix

With ten iconic locations for the cars to power around, the Dutch Road Trip represented a huge technical challenge, involving camera cars, multiple drones, helmet cams and road closures across the country as the crowds poured out to see our F1 cars in action.

Nowhere was the challenge more apparent than in the narrow confines of the greenhouses and auction floors of one of the Netherlands’ largest flower growers, as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing support team coordinator, Mark Willis, explained.

“A Formula 1 car is not designed to drive slowly and even at 90 kph, which is the top speed of the truck the boys encounter, it still struggles. Being in first gear all the time is not good for the car, the engine’s too hot and we can come across problems. These cars are designed to race Grands Prix and what we put them through is not what they were made to do.”

Support team manager, Tony Burrows, also enjoyed the experience of bringing our F1 cars to the Dutch fans: “Earlier this year we embarked on a road trip around The Netherlands, Max Verstappen’s homeland. The cars drove through greenhouses and flower auction rooms, on a specially prepared part of the beach and at the track. The shot through the greenhouse was my favorite, we don’t normally see a Formula 1 car surrounded by flowers. The greenhouse was the size of a football pitch, it was amazing to see and there’s some great footage from that. What makes these events most enjoyable is seeing the public get up close to the F1 car and enjoying the noise and excitement during filming.”