"It all started with a problem.“ This is how track manager Niek Oude Luttikhuis describes the first talks with Formula 1 about a possible return to Zandvoort. And that is the story of this problem, an extraordinary idea and its implementation. Or in a nutshell: How the F1 track in Zandvoort got its steep curves.
Such a thing had not yet been a topic in 2018, but when Zandvoort first put out its feelers in the direction of F1 again, Max Verstappen had already won a handful of grands prix and was well on his way to becoming a hero in the Netherlands. So why not set up a home race for the upcoming superstar?
What the 'Verstappen effect' could achieve had already been seen at F1 circuits abroad - and also at the Jumbo Race Days in Zandvoort, where thousands watched Verstappen do demo laps in an F1 car. A race of its own seemed like the next logical step.
F1 saw charm in it. "But they didn't want to sign a contract with us because we didn't have a long straight and therefore no long DRS zone that would have favoured overtaking - like on almost all newly built tracks," says Luttikhuis.
The Bahrain International Circuit, as an example of a modern grand prix circuit, has a straight that is more than one kilometre long. Zandvoort, on the other hand, came in at only 700 metres.
So, what could be done to meet the requirements of F1? "The easiest thing would have been to extend the straight," says Luttikhuis, "but that's not possible in Zandvoort. Because on one side there are sand dunes worth protecting and on the other side the town of Zandvoort. We could not extend the straight."
F1 management therefore suggested activating the drag reduction system (DRS) already in the Arie-Luyendyk curve, in the finishing curve. "But with that we had the problem that the permissible centrifugal forces would have been exceeded in the finishing bend," says Luttikhuis. "The cars would simply have become too fast at the exit of the bend."
So other approaches were discussed, 15 different options in all. "One suggestion, for example, was to make the corner before it extremely slow, almost like a 90-degree bend. That would allow the cars to come out of that corner very slowly, which in turn could allow the use of DRS in the finishing corner," explains Luttikhuis.
Source: Autosport