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Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian Grand Prix) 2021 race start, Hungaroring, Mogyorod, Hungary. Image credit to Bryn Lennon/Getty Images. 2021 Dutch GP Preview, Dutch Grand Prix Preview.
2021 Dutch GP Preview – After Max Verstappen was declared the winner in the shortest race in F1 history at a rain-soaked Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, round 13 of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands for the first time since 1985 for the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021. This will be the 31st time that Circuit Zandvoort will host the Dutch Grand Prix. This is the second race of another set of triple-headers of Grands Prix in the 2021 Championship campaign.
2021 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.
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.
2021 Dutch GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
1985: Niki Lauda, McLaren-TAG. 1984: Alain Prost, McLaren-TAG. 1983: Rene Arnoux, Scuderia Ferrari. 1982: Didier Pironi, Scuderia Ferrari. 1981: Alain Prost, Renault.
2021 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 C4 red side-walled Softs, three sets of the yellow C3 Mediums and two sets of the white C3 Hard rubber.
2021 Dutch GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRZ 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.
2021 Dutch GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen takes Belgian GP victory in shortest race in history
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was declared the winner of the shortened Belgian GP after non-stop heavy rain impacted proceedings at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Following a rain-affected qualifying on Saturday, rain continued to hit the Stavelot region throughout Sunday in the build-up to the Grand Prix.
Race control announced before the planned race start at 15:00pm local time that formation laps would be behind the safety car and pushed the start to 15:25pm.
The pack completed two formation laps, but the majority of drivers reported reduced visibility and lack of grip, and the Grand Prix was red flagged at 15:30pm and all drivers returned to the pits.
A long delay followed, and with the thick band of rain showing no sign of clearing and the time ticking down from the start of the three-hour window at 15:00pm, the chances of running a race to award full points went thin.
With one hour left on the clock at 17:00pm local time, race control momentarily stopped proceedings, halting the clock to try and wait for a break in the band of rain.
The rain eased a little so the pack could return behind the safety car at 18:17pm, with the cars passing by the green lights at the end of pit-lane and completed two full laps for the race to become official and the classification set.
During the third tour behind the safety car, race control red-flagged the Grand Prix again, bringing the drivers back to the pits, before the race was officially declared an official result at 18:44pm local time.
This meant Verstappen claimed the Belgian GP victory, the Red Bull driver taking 12.5 points, whilst Williams Racing’s George Russell scoring his maiden Formula 1 podium in second place, and nine points.
Verstappen’s championship rival Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top three for Mercedes and adding 7.5 points to his tally as the Briton’s Driver’s Championship leading gap was cut down to three points.
It is the first Grand Prix to award half points since the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix and becomes the shortest race in Formula 1 history to have an official classification. With the previous record being 14 laps completed at the 1991 Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth and in-front of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who crossed the line in fifth, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly sixth and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon seventh.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was classified eighth, two places ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz with Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi splitting the pairing in-between.
The other Alpine of Fernando Alonso ended the shortened race in 11th and in-front of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who was 12th and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi 13th.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was classified in 14th place and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in 15th and Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who were 16th and 17th respectively as the latter was awarded the fastest lap of the race – a 3:18.016 – but the Russian does not receive any points due to being outside of the top ten.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 18th in the order and in-front of Alfa’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who brought up the rear.
Perez suffered a disaster before the Belgian Grand Prix began, after crashing on his way to the starting grid losing control on the wet surface and was unable to prevent his Honda-powered RB16B from darting straight into the barriers at Les Combes. The Milton Keynes-based outfit managed to get his car repaired during the delay, but the Mexican ended up last in the classification due to the abandoned race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1074/belgium/race-result.html
2021 Dutch GP Preview – The Situation
Lewis Hamilton heads to Zandvoort sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 202.5 points and a three-point advantage over Max Verstappen who is second on 199.5 points while Lando Norris is a further 82 points behind his fellow-Briton in third on 113 points.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team comes to the Netherlands on top of the Constructors Championship with 310.5 points and a seven-point lead over nearest rivals Red Bull Racing-Honda who are second on 303.5 points whilst McLaren Racing are a further 141.5 points behind the Silver Arrows in third place on 169 points.
The Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021 weekend begins Friday September 3 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday September 4 and the 72 lap Race Sunday September 5.
