A lap around Zandvoort: The renovation of Zandvoort to a modern F1-circuit
Published on 02 September 2021 by Julien Lemmen
The lights go green for FP1 at Circuit Zandvoort on Friday at 11:30 local time, in preparation for the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985. The legendary Zandvoort circuit welcomes back the Formula One Circus with an updated layout that wants to be a challenge for the drivers and the cars, empowering the soul of the ‘old-style circuit’, with all the innovations and safety of a modern track. The Italian engineering firm Dromo Circuit Design, that was in the lead of the renovations at the historic circuit, shows the many changes that the circuit has undergone.
Max Verstappen drove a Formula 1-car on the renovated circuit for the first time on the 4th of March last year. The Dutchman was very enthusiastic about the changes to the track: “The track was already nice to drive on, but the adjustments that have been done make it even more special. Especially Turn three, the banking there is great and you are able to drive different lines. That also goes for the final corner."
Max continues: “In general I think that the entire track is going to be a challenge. It is of course still an old school circuit. There aren’t that many run-off areas, but that is not needed, I think. It adds to the excitement. I am very much looking forward to race here with the current cars.”
What is it like to negotiate Turn three? Max: “I never expected the third corner to be so steep. The inside drops away from you, so to speak, so it is somewhat of a blind corner turning in. Also, the rest of the corner is taken differently than you are used to and that makes it pretty remarkable. It will take some laps before you find the ideal line there. The whole circuit is challenging. There are many fast corners.”
The many changes of Circuit Zandvoort summed up:
Turn 1: Tarzan - Theater of epic battles, the “new” Tarzan has been reprofiled to allow the cars to overtake on multiple lines.
T2 Gerlach and T3: Hugenholtz - the feeling is to go straight into the wall. Turn 3 is unique in the world. Named after the original designer of Suzuka and former Director of the Zandvoort track, the outer edge of the track is more than 4 meters higher than the inner one, despite the curve features just 17 meters in radius.
Exiting T3 the drivers will ‘climb’ uphill with a 8-meter difference in height, before facing T4, and then downhill of a change of level of 7.5 meters to tackle T5 towards left and then - like in a rollercoaster- back with a 8-meter uphill, through the bumpy T6 (Rob Slotemaker).
T7: Scheivlak with a 5.6 degree of inclination, will see the F1 guys trying to do it full throttle, downhill, with a lateral run off that’s climbing 10 meters on their left.
In the second half of the lap, between Turn 8 and 11 we find a section with almost zero elevation, with all bankings below 3 degrees. That will be the real compromise section for the engineers. In fact, a car with a mechanical set-up for banking curves will be much more complicated to manage in this section, increasing the driving difficulty until the violent braking to enter the turn 11 and forcing the teams to choose a compromise in the settings, especially on the suspension/ aero package to try to get the most out of every stretch of track.
Turn 12 (Hans Ernst): from a single seater point of view it is impossible to see the apex of the corner. From T11 the entry it’s blind and the punishment for mistakes it is not less than a gravel run off.
Turn 13 (Kumho): that is the key to enter in the final “straight”. That corner has been designed to make the cars understeering if too aggressive on the internal kerb, wasting the opportunity to be fast on the main straight.
Turn 14 (Arie Luyendijk): now a 18-dregree elevation to do flat out and tackle the finish straight. The wide turning radius and the up to 18 degrees banking creates in fact the extension of the main straight. It will anticipate of 340 metres the point where the F1 drivers can go flat out, transforming the actual 678 metres in a potential 1 km straight. This will allow an overtaking point at the braking of Turn 1
See the documentary about the renovation of Circuit Zandvoort:
