With the first day of free practice at the Zandvoort circuit, the second half of the 2024 racing season begins. At Max Verstappen’s home race, the Dutch driver has always crossed the finish line first since the event returned to the calendar. The circuit is characterized by two banked sections, with gradients varying up to 35%.
The section of Turn 3, named after the legendary track designer John Hugenholtz, has banking with an angle that varies according to the Fibonacci sequence, starting at 4.5°. Last season, Max Verstappen secured his ninth consecutive victory, a record later broken at the Italian Grand Prix. Red Bull was in the midst of technical dominance, and for the Dutch driver, winning his third world title was just a matter of time. However, a year later, the balance of power on the track has completely changed.
Despite McLaren giving the impression of having the best car on the grid, they have been unable to maximize their potential. Conversely, the Silver Arrows have won three of the last four races, and while the victory at the Red Bull Ring was due to circumstances, Lewis Hamilton’s subsequent triumphs at his home race and in Belgium demonstrated that Mercedes can be a formidable opponent, not just occasionally. This year, Scuderia Ferrari returns from the break at the back of the top teams, after the developments failed to bring performance improvements to the SF-24.
The annoying aerodynamic porpoising resurfaced after the new floor was integrated into the car, a major component that the engineers at Maranello are working on to avoid wasting the budget allocated for the update that debuted in Barcelona. From this Grand Prix, a modification to paragraph 11.1.2 (Brake circuits and pressure distribution) will be effective, prohibiting the use of any device aimed at systematically producing asymmetric torque on the same axle of the car. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if there are any performance differences.
Zandvoort is one of F1’s historic venues, located near the namesake town in the Netherlands, just a few kilometers from Amsterdam. Inaugurated in 1948, its original layout combined public roads from the seaside town with the fast permanent circuit. The Dutch Grand Prix, held on the modern circuit that measures 4.259 meters with 72 laps, covers a total distance of 306.587 kilometers. It is an “old style” track, where a perfect lap requires courage and millimetric precision, while in the race, despite the updated layout, overtaking is very difficult.
The F1 circuit features ten right-hand turns and four left-hand turns of varying radius and length, with two high-speed sections (main straight, between turns 10-11) where DRS can be used in qualifying and overtaking maneuvers during the race. In dry conditions, overtaking is not easy, but last season’s edition, thanks to changing weather conditions, saw 186 overtaking maneuvers compared to just 23 in the 2022 season.
For the Dutch race, Pirelli has opted for the hardest range of dry compounds (Pirelli P Zero White Hard C1, Pirelli P Zero Yellow Medium C2, Pirelli P Zero Red Soft C3) due to the high grip of the asphalt, significant lateral accelerations, and the enormous vertical load on the banked sections.
Zandvoort is a relatively easy track for the braking system. On a scale from 1 to 5, it has a difficulty index of 3, similar to other tracks like Budapest and Spielberg. The time spent braking is close to 17% over the course of a lap. The Dutch circuit is not particularly challenging for the transmission of the cars either. The high vertical loads acting on the cars, especially in the banked sections, cause strong compressions towards the asphalt.
The geometry of the Dutch F1 circuit features various types of turns, with fast sections and others that are slow, where cars with excellent mechanical grip shine. The track layout requires a medium-high downforce setup, a necessary compromise given the variety of corners present and considering that the throttle is open for 68% of the lap time. The Dutch circuit features long and fast corners, with high G-forces that repeatedly stress the front tires, typical of “front-limited” tracks.
Therefore, it will be crucial to decide on a setup capable of managing tire degradation on the front axle, as the Zandvoort track requires extreme precision at corner entry. As always in these cases, finding an aero-mechanical compromise will make the difference, especially considering that the balance of power among the teams fighting at the top is very close, and even small setup differences can have a significant impact.
The first sector includes turns 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Turn 1 is approached in eighth gear at around 330 kilometers per hour after the long pit straight, with a hard brake before taking a fairly fast hairpin that requires a clean line. Then comes turn 2, a right-hand corner that sets up entry for turn 3, a long parabola tackled in 2nd or 3rd gear.
Turn 3 sees different interpretations, with drivers taking completely different lines. Some follow the standard approach, hugging the inside curb for better corner entry but losing acceleration on exit compared to those who prefer a much wider line. After that, the track rises and plunges into the fast section of turns 4, 5, and 6, all taken flat out.
The second sector includes turns 7, 8, 9, and 10, with turn 7 being the key point, taken at nearly 300 kilometers per hour. The following section is medium-speed and requires a good aerodynamic setup. All the corners here are taken in 3rd or 4th gear, with speeds ranging between 120 and 180 kilometers per hour. A straight then leads into the third sector.
The third sector comprises turns 11, 12, 13, and 14. Approaching turn 11 at about 300 kilometers per hour in 7th gear, there’s a hard brake for the chicane at turns 11-12, taken in 2nd gear. This chicane is the most critical point of the third sector because a good speed through it sets up the acceleration needed for the main straight. This could be challenging for Red Bull, as the curbs must be used, and the RB20 has shown weaknesses in this area.
It will be interesting to see if the Red Bull cars, developed in Milton Keynes, will show any progress in what has been a clear vulnerability so far. Turn 13 is a medium-speed bend, tackled in 3rd or 4th gear, leading into the long parabolic turn before the main straight.
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