The present residence of the Dutch Grand Prix returned to the calendar in 2021 after modifications for contemporary Method 1 equipment, however has hosted 34 world championship occasions. Because the 2025 season resumes at Zandvoort, Haas driver Esteban Ocon is your information to the two.646-mile monitor.
“The primary time I raced right here was in DTM. So it was the outdated configuration – mainly the identical format, however no banking in Flip 3 and the final nook. So the final nook was way more of a problem again then, and Flip 3 was a special line. There was additionally no runoff in Flip 3, so that you have been crashing and you did not have the elevation, to cease you going there.
“However immediately once I got here right here, I believed, ‘OK, that is an superior monitor!’ In DTM, it was superior as a result of it was virtually flat in Flip 7, and that did not actually change from then.
“It’s an old-school monitor, like we like them. And I believe for as soon as these new modifications have made it even higher. It isn’t usually the case – once we put new curbs in and stuff like that, the tracks lose character and I am not the most important fan of that. However this monitor hasn’t accomplished that, in order that’s good.
“I believe it will have been doable to race right here with out the banking, however it will have been most likely even more durable to overhaul. And doubtless would have been much less attention-grabbing in Flip 3 initially too, as a result of now you may get a few completely different traces when earlier than there was just one.
“So you wouldn’t most likely have seen overtakes in Flip 3 – or not as a lot – however I do not suppose it will have modified the world. I imply, they raced within the ’70s and ’80s right here, so it’s doable.
“We do not get banking usually. We definitely do not get it as extreme as we have right here. And Flip 3 is a really completely different problem to the ultimate nook as nicely. It is fairly loopy. Particularly while you go there strolling, you simply cannot go to the highest very simply. For the American followers, it is like Daytona, the place they can not additionally climb to the highest.
“I do know it’s fewer levels [18 degrees angle at Zandvoort, 31 at Daytona], however what’s attention-grabbing is which you can get so many alternative traces. I do not suppose you ever get it completely each lap, as a result of you could have a solution to enter the banking which could be very slim as a window, and if you’re a bit too far in, you possibly can have the within wheel locking and never have all of the corners on the bottom.
“For those who enter too early as nicely, you aren’t positioned the best way you need to. And the upper you go, the extra grip you could have. So it is rather attention-grabbing nook and possibly essentially the most troublesome of the 12 months, technically.
“In Flip 3, it is compressing you a large number. There’s a manner the place when it compresses you, you’re feeling prefer it’s getting into the fitting path. Principally, it signifies that the grip’s coming properly and which you can flip extra to exit – it is like a ramp while you exit it. You simply take extra of the slope and you’re taking pace while you go right down to exit, which is absolutely cool.
Zandvoort’s banking promotes various completely different traces, which Ocon says makes for some attention-grabbing technical challenges. Andrew Ferraro/Getty Pictures
“The ultimate nook is simply straightforward flat. If it was like a flat floor, it will most likely not be doable to make use of DRS. It might be flat, however not with DRS.
“From a setup standpoint, I’d say it is the identical compromises as you could have in every single place else, actually. There isn’t a particular setup by way of camber or stuff like that that you’d get in some oval racing as a result of now we have just one limited-grip nook. All the remainder of the monitor, you’ll want to set the automotive up usually.
“You might be fairly mounted on the cambers anyway by way of Pirelli rules – you possibly can’t actually go above what they inform you. So you might be carrying the skin of the tire a bit extra in comparison with a standard monitor, I’d say, particularly the final nook. However that does not change the world.
“I just like the monitor. I actually, actually take pleasure in it. I believe it’s totally troublesome in moist climate – prefer it may very well be this weekend – which is an effective factor as a result of it is good for the followers and it is good total to be right here and having alternatives like this.
“However it’s not essentially the most enjoyable monitor within the moist. The grip degree is sort of low for some motive. There’s excessive monitor evolution within the dry, however for some motive, the intermediate tires right here usually are not the most effective.”
AT A GLANCE
Race distance: 72 laps/190.5 miles
2024 pole time: 1m09.673s (Lando Norris, McLaren-Mercedes)
2024 winner: Lando Norris, McLaren-Mercedes
Pirelli tire allotment: The compounds in play would be the C2 because the onerous, the C3 because the medium and the C4 because the tender. This choice is one step softer than that dropped at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.
Drivers will get two units of the onerous tire (C2, marked white), three units of the medium tire (C3, marked yellow) and eight units of the tender tire (C4, marked crimson), in addition to entry to the inexperienced intermediate tire and the blue full wets, ought to they be required.
HEINEKEN DUTCH GRAND PRIX WEEKEND SCHEDULE (all occasions ET):
Friday, August 29
6:25am – 7:30am – First Apply, ESPN2
9:55am – 11:00am – Second Apply, ESPN2
Saturday, August 30
5:25am – 6:30am – Third Apply, ESPN2
8:55am – 10:00am – Qualifying, ESPN2
Sunday, August 31
8:55am – 11:00am – Dutch Grand Prix (72 laps or 120 minutes), ESPN
