#F1 @Heineken #DutchGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #DutchGrandPrix
Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2022 Race Start, Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands. Image credit to Dan Mullan/Getty Images. 2023 Dutch GP Preview, F1 Dutch GP Preview, Dutch Grand Prix Preview, Formula 1 Dutch GP.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – After Max Verstappen took a dominant victory in both the Sprint and Grand Prix last time out in Belgium to extend his World Driver’s Championship lead to 125 points over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, round 14 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands this weekend following the sport’s traditional summer break for the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023. This is the 35th Dutch GP and will be the 33rd time that Circuit Zandvoort will host the Dutch Grand Prix. This is the first of a double-header alongside the Italian Grand Prix.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – A look at the Circuit Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort is a permanent motor racing facility located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, Netherlands near the North Sea coast-line. There were minor races on a street circuit in the town in the 1930’s, but the German invasion of the Netherlands proved to be a whisker of luck for the locals. In a bid to stop his townspeople from being sent to Germany to work, legend says the Mayor of Zandvoort influenced the Germans to allow them to create a straight road through the dunes down, which the Germans could hold celebratory parades once they achieved victory. This was also later linked to other roads, which were used to get to coastal defence positions.
After the war, some of these roads were widened and joined together and a racing circuit was made, not as legend says by John Hugenholtz, but by a group of officials from the Royal Dutch Motorcycle Association, with input from Bentley Boy Sammy Davis, who won the 1927 24 Heures Du Mans. The first event was in 1948, named the Zandvoort Grand Prix. The race by Thailand’s Prince Bira in a Maserati. The next two events were won by Louis Rosier in the year’s 1950 and 1951. 1952 was the year the Dutch Grand Prix became part of the third Formula 1 World Championship season; this and the next year’s Grands Prix were won by Ferrari’s Alberto Ascari. The 1954 event was not held due to a lack of money, and 1955 saw once more Mercedes-Benz ‘s dominance, with legend’s Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss flying; Moss followed Fangio closely all the way to the finish. The 1956 and 1957 Grands Prix were also cancelled due to a lack of money, which indirectly was caused by the Suez Crisis of 1956–1957. The 1958 Dutch Grand Prix was won by Vanwall’s Moss. 1959’s event saw Jo Bonnier win his only Grand Prix and in 1960 saw Dan Gurney suffer an accident and a spectator was killed; the race was won by the legendary Jack Brabham in his Cooper.
The Dutch Grands Prix from 1963 to 1965 saw Jim Clark score a hattrick of victories, and 1967 saw the rise of the famous Lotus 49 featuring its brand-new Ford-Cosworth DFV engine. The DFV won on its debut with Clark behind the wheel; this naturally aspirated V8 engine became the most successful and widely used engine amongst the privateer outfits until the 1985 season. The 1970 Championship season, however, saw the 49’s successor, the 72 (with its design just as advanced as the 49 was three years earlier) dominate comprehensively with Jochen Rindt piloting.
Tragedy hit, when Piers Courage, behind the wheel of a Frank Williams entry, crashed heavily near the high-speed Tunnel Oost corner after a wheel came off and hit the Briton on the head, which killed him. The car, with Courage still inside it, then caught fire and burned to the ground. The 1971 Grand Prix saw Jacky Ickx clinch the victory in a Ferrari after an intense fight with Mexican Pedro Rodriguez in a BRM in torrential wet conditions. There was no event in 1972. It was at first on that season’s calendar, but the drivers rejected racing at Zandvoort, due to the facilities and circuit conditions being out-of-date with Grand Prix racing during that period.
Zandvoort was extensively modified during its absence from the Formula One World Championship calendar. It was lined with Armco barriers and cars were protected from the track-side obstacles and sand dunes. A new pit was built, and the track also saw a chicane placed just before Bosuit, the quick high-speed corner that went onto the pit-straight. For the 1973 event, in a celebration of the efforts made, there was a great atmosphere that weekend and everyone was ecstatic, especially the organisers. But in a cruel twist, that Grand Prix was to be yet another bad hit on Zandvoort’s history and reputation. In an event that was said to be one of the most well-organised Grands Prix, it was actually disorganised, and a lack of clear communication would be responsible for what was to come.
On the eighth lap of the Grand Prix, Roger Williamson (competing in his second race) suffered a heavy crash near Tunnel Oost and his car, whilst scraping along the tarmac caught fire. Williamson was thankfully uninjured during the crash, but time was running out and he could not break free from the car. Williamson’s fellow countryman David Purley parked it alongside, crossed the circuit and sprinted over to the burning March. Purley attempted to turn the car upright. There appeared to be some time to right the car and get Williamson out, but as hard as Purley tried, he was unable to do it all by himself, and the marshals, who were not wearing flame-retardant overalls, were unable and not willing to help because of the intense heat. Race control assumed that Purley’s car that had crashed, and that the Briton escaped unscathed. The majority of drivers who saw Purley waving at them to stop assumed that he was trying to put out a fire from his own car, having safely gotten out of it, and did not know a second driver was involved. As a result, the Grand Prix continued, whilst Purley tried hard to save Williamson’s life. Due to race officials standing around doing nothing to help and hinder the situation (by throwing away the fire extinguisher that Purely was using over the Armco barriers and down the slope) this did not work as Williamson’s car burned, and Williamson succumbed due to asphyxiation. Purley was later given the George Medal for his actions in trying to save Williamson’s life. The event was won by Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart (who broke fellow Scot Jim Clark’s record for the most career victories that weekend) and his French teammate Francois Cevert came home in 2nd place, but no one celebrated; it was one of the darkest moments in the history of Formula One.
The 1974 Grand Prix saw the re-emergence of Ferrari dominate with legend Niki Lauda scoring the victory; and 1975 saw James Hunt claim his maiden Formula One race win for Hesketh. 1976 saw Hunt win once more whilst Lauda was recovering from his horrific crash at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The 1977 even was remembered for an incident between Hunt and Mario Andretti. Andretti attempted to pass Hunt at the famous Tarzan corner; the two cars tangled, and both were forced to retire from the race. Andretti won the 1978 event, his last Grand Prix victory. 1979 saw a track change to slow cars going into Tunnel Oost, there was a fast temporary chicane put in place there. Canadian Gilles Villeneuve crashed there, whilst fighting aggressively with Alan Jones and suffered left-rear suspension damage. But the Ferrari continued; but on the following tour, he once again went off again at Tarzan corner. Refusing to wave the white flag, Villeneuve, shocked many, put the Ferrari into reverse gear and piloted his 312t4 racer out of the run-off area full of mud and back onto the track. At halfway distance, the 312t4’s left rear rim and wheel along with the suspension shattered and was being dragged by the car as it continued on, which made the Ferrari almost impossible to drive. Villeneuve, displaying his now famous car control, made his way back to the pits without crashing or going off the circuit and retired from the Grand Prix, with Jones taking the victory. The 1980 race saw the chicane removed and swapped with a slower chicane before the Tunnel Oost. 1981’s Grand Prix saw an intense battle between Alain Prost driving a Renault and Jones in his Williams, with Prost coming out as the winner. The 1982 Grand Prix was won by Ferrari’s Didier Pironi, his fellow French-compatriot Rene Arnoux suffered a horrific crash at the end of the main-straight going into Tarzan corner; with his ground-effect Renault’s front suspension failing and the Frenchman went head-first into the barriers, thankfully he was okay. The 1983 race saw a battle between title rivals Prost and Nelson Piquet. Prost tried to overtake Piquet at Tarzan, but the Frenchman hit Piquet off, and Prost crashed afterwards. The 1985 event saw Lauda take his 25th and final Grand Prix victory whilst fending off his fast-charging McLaren team-mate Prost near the end of proceedings.
1985 was the Dutch Grand Prix’s final running, as the company that ran the Zandvoort circuit (CENAV) went out of business, marking the end of the iconic old Zandvoort track. The track, owned by the Zandvoort municipality, was not used for some time and part of the grounds and half of the circuit was sold to Vendorado in 1987, a bungalow park developer during that time. The circuit was eventually re-designed and is still used for other motorsport categories.
Before in 2019, the announcement came that Formula 1 would return to Zandvoort in 2020, after a 35-year hiatus from the sport. The coronavirus plague made it 36 years and a 2021 date for its event.
The Circuit Zandvoort was modernised in time for Formula One’s return – including increasing its banking angle at the iconic Tarzan corner to an Indianapolis Motor Speedway style trumping it 18 degrees with the circuit being undulating and rollercoaster like.
The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.296 kilometres (2.646 miles) in length and runs in a clockwise direction.
Race distance is 306.648 kilometres (190.542 miles) in length with 72 laps in total and 14 corners.
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record at the Circuit Zandvoort set at the 2021 event with a 1:11.097 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W12 E Performance racer.
Jim Clark holds the record for most Dutch Grand Prix victories with four to his name.
Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful constructor at the Dutch Grand Prix with nine victories.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – Onboard Pole Position Lap of the Circuit Zandvoort
Here is the onboard pole position lap from last year’s event set by home-favourite Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing-Honda RB18. The reigning world champion’s effort was a solid 1:10.342. You can watch the onboard right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgiKLoIvFfo
2023 Dutch GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 1986-2020: Not Held. 1985: Niki Lauda, McLaren-TAG. 1984: Alain Prost, McLaren-TAG. 1983: Rene Arnoux, Scuderia Ferrari.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to the Circuit Zandvoort, the white-branded C1 Hard compounds, the yellow-marked C2 Mediums and the red side-walled C3 Soft rubber along with the green-marked Intermediates and blue-banded Full Wet compounds in-case of rain.
All drivers will have eight sets of the C3 red side-walled Softs, three sets of the yellow C2 Mediums and two sets of the white C1 Hard rubber.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS zones at Circuit Zandvoort with the first detection point just before turn ten with the first activation zone at the exit of turn ten. The second detection point is just before the penultimate corner turn 13 with the second activation zone at the exit of the final corner turn 14.
2023 Dutch GP Preview Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: – Verstappen cruises to dominant 45th-career victory at Belgian GP
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came from sixth on the grid to take a dominant victory at the Belgian GP ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez who was second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took the final podium place.
The Dutchman increased his World Driver’s Championship lead to 117 points over team-mate Perez as Red Bull also scored his 13th-consecutive win in a row.
When the 44-lap Belgian GP began, pole-sitter Leclerc got a solid getaway into La Source from Perez, but the Mexican made his past the former down the Kemmel Straight to snatch the lead from the Ferrari driver heading into Les Combes.
Behind them McLaren’s Oscar Piastri got squeezed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and tagged into the wall at La Source, damaging his front wing and suspension in a three wide tangle along with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
After the opening tour, Perez held a 1.020 second lead over Leclerc with Hamilton third, Verstappen up into fourth and Sainz completing the top five.
Piastri was forced to retire early on lap two and stopped between turns 13 and 14.
On lap four, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso passed his fellow Spanish-compatriot Sainz on the inside down the Kemmel Straight with DRS assistance and into Les Combes for fifth place.
Lap five, Perez increased his lead to 2.184 seconds over Leclerc with Hamilton third, Verstappen fourth and Alonso rounding out the top five.
Behind them AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda also found his way by the damaged Ferrari of Sainz to take sixth place.
On the sixth tour, Verstappen used DRS assistance down the Kemmel Straight and pounced on the inside of Hamilton’s F1 W14 to move into third place.
Behind them, Mercedes’ George Russell pushed his way ahead of Sainz into the Bus Stop Chicane to jump into ninth place.
On the ninth lap, Verstappen was 0.574 seconds behind Leclerc and with DRS assistance got into the slipstream of the SF-23, moved to the outside and made a late move into Les Combes to overtake the Monegasque driver into second place.
Lap 10, Race leader Perez was 2.671 seconds ahead of Red Bull team-mate Verstappen with Leclerc down in third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso completing the top five.
On lap 11, Alonso pitted from fifth to put on a fresh set of the C2 white side-walled harder compounds and came out in eighth place behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. However, Alonso fell behind Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg as the latter passed the AMR23 down the Kemmel Straight.
A lap later, Alonso got his way back passed Hulkenberg in the same place to reclaim eighth from the German.
On lap 13, Hamilton stopped for a fresh set of the C3 yellow-marked mediums and just in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and managed to keep the Canadian behind him down the Kemmel Straight to remain in fourth.
A tour later, both Perez and Leclerc stopped, and both came out in the same positions of second and third respectively. Both drivers also on a fresh set of the medium rubber.
Verstappen pitted from the lead on lap 15 for a fresh set of mediums and emerged 2.493 seconds behind team-mate Perez.
Behind them Russell and Stroll were battling for fifth place with the latter keeping the Mercedes driver at bay heading into Les Combes.
Alonso got into the slipstream of Russell and dived down the inside of the F1 W14 to pass the Mercedes into the Bus Stop Chicane for sixth and also made his way by his team-mate Stroll to take fifth place.
On lap 16, Verstappen was tucked right behind the gearbox of his race-leading team-mate Perez.
A tour later, Verstappen was right into the slipstream of team-mate Perez and breezed his way on the outside to pass the Mexican and grab the lead. Behind them, Russell also made a late dive into Les Combes to overtake Stroll into sixth place.
On lap 18, Verstappen scored the fastest lap of a 1:50.108 and had a 1.792 second lead over team-mate Perez with Leclerc six seconds down in third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso completing the top five.
Ferrari reported to Sainz over the radio that “rain was expected in four minutes”.
On the 20th lap, Verstappen increased the gap to 3.824 over team-mate Perez with Leclerc holding third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso fifth as the rain began to come in.
At half race distance, Verstappen was 4.153 seconds ahead of Perez, as Leclerc remained over six seconds adrift in third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso completing the top five.
On lap 23, Tsunoda overtook Gasly for sixth place.
A lap later, Gasly stopped from seventh for a set of mediums to emerge in 17th place behind Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon.
Ferrari’s Sainz was forced to retire on lap 25 following his earlier side-pod damage on the opening tour in his three-wide tangle at La Source with Hamilton and Piastri.
On lap 26, Verstappen increased his gap to Perez to over 6.758 seconds with Leclerc holding third, Hamilton fourth and Alonso rounding out the top five runners.
The 28th tour saw Hamilton stop for a set of softs and returned to the circuit in fifth place behind Alonso.
A lap later, Ferrari reacted to Mercedes by pitting Leclerc, as the Monegasque driver put on a set of softs and remained in third whilst behind them Hamilton made short work of Alonso to grab fourth place back from the Spaniard.
On the 30th lap, Perez also stopped for a fresh set of softs and behind the Mexican, Alonso pitted for softs and came out in fifth.
Verstappen followed suit a lap later and came in for a fresh of softs and emerging 9.275 clear of Red Bull team-mate Perez.
With 10 laps remaining Verstappen lead was up to 12.586 seconds over team-mate Perez as Leclerc held third with Hamilton 1.931 seconds off the Ferrari in fourth as Alonso was a further 24.776 off in fifth.
On the 39th lap, Ocon passed Tsunoda to take ninth place from the AlphaTauri driver.
On the penultimate tour Hamilton, pitted for a fresh set of mediums to push for the bonus fastest lap point.
Verstappen crossed the line to clinch the Belgian GP and the 45th victory of his career by 22.305 seconds over Red Bull team-mate Perez and Leclerc completed the top three.
Hamilton came home in fourth with the fastest lap bonus point and in-front of Aston Martin’s Alonso who was fifth and Mercedes team-mate Russell who took sixth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished the Grand Prix in seventh place and ahead of Alpine’s Ocon who ended the race eighth and Aston Martin’s Stroll who placed ninth as AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda scored the final points position.
Alpine’s Gasly was 11th and in-front of Alfa Romeo pairing Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas who were 12th and 13th respectively.
Williams Racing’s Albon placed 14th in the order and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was 15th and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo who finished 16th in the classification.
The other Williams FW45 entry of Logan Sargeant and Hulkenberg brought up the rear.
2023 Dutch GP Preview – The Situation
The F1 summer break is almost over, and the 10-race run to the end of the campaign starts this weekend in the Netherlands and the famous Circuit Zandvoort.
After the factory shutdowns and holidays, the season will resume with the chasing field looking to try and end Red Bull’s dominant streak of victories in every race so far – and runaway championship leader Max Verstappen the last eight.
Verstappen’s hunt for a record nine wins on the trot takes him back to his home soil and a Grand Prix in-front of his “Orange Army”, who have made the venue by the North Sea coast one of the noisiest and atmospheric since Zandvoort returned to the calendar for the first time in three decades in 2021.
Whilst Verstappen, also aiming for a hat-trick of victories at home, will be starting as a clear favourite, the pre-summer break fight behind the Dutchman became unpredictable.
Five different drivers from five different teams scored second place to Verstappen in the space of six Grands Prix, bunching up the order in the battle for other leading positions in the World Driver’s and Constructor’s Championship standings.
Old team-mates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are separated by only one point in third and fourth respectively, whilst Aston Martin are coming under pressure from Ferrari for their position behind Red Bull and Mercedes in the Constructor’s.
Verstappen heads to his home race at Zandvoort sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 314 points and a 125-point advantage over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez who is second on 189 points while Fernando Alonso is a further 165 points behind the Dutchman in third on 149 points.
Oracle Red Bull Racing comes to the Netherlands on top of the Constructors Championship with 503 points and a 256-point lead over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team who are second on 247 points whilst Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team are a further 307 points behind the Milton Keynes based-squad in third place on 196 points.
The Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023 weekend begins Friday August 25 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday August 26 and the 72 lap Race Sunday August 27.
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