McLaren driver Lando Norris has likened the Zandvoort circuit to a rollercoaster.
Host of this weekend’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort was built on the dunes alongside the North Sea.
The circuit features swooping curves through the opening half of the lap, which remains largely untouched from when the venue was first built in 1948.
Major modifications made before Formula 1’s return in 2021 saw the addition of banked corners at Hugenholtz Bocht (Turn 3) and Arie Luyendyk Bocht (Turn 14).
“The undulation and turns make it feel like a rollercoaster ride so I’m excited to get out there and give it all we’ve got,” said Norris.
“It also always has an incredible atmosphere and I like to think that most of the orange is there to support McLaren…”
The return of the Dutch Grand Prix last year was widely regarded as a highlight of the season.
Dance music and a party atmosphere filled the venue, with the enthusiasm of fans rubbing off on those in the paddock.
“I’m looking forward to Zandvoort. It’s an awesome circuit and has such a fun, almost festival-like atmosphere which is great for your mood going into the weekend,” said Daniel Ricciardo.
“It’s more of an old-school circuit with interesting features like Tarzan and the ability to overtake there, so I’m excited to get on track and see how different it is from last year in the new cars.”
Formula 1 is this year set to trial the use of DRS around the banked final corner in Free Practice 1, with the potential for that to remain in place for the balance of the weekend.
“With F1 trialling DRS through the final banked corner for FP1, it should be interesting to see how the new iteration of cars perform and what impact it has on our ability to overtake, especially as the cars can run side by side there,” noted McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl.
“The undulation and swooping sections are also a good feature of the circuit and provide a nice challenge for the drivers.”
McLaren comes off a dismal Belgian Grand Prix where neither Norris nor Ricciardo scored points.
Rubbing salt into the wounds was the fact Alpine, with whom the squad is battling for fourth in the constructors’ championship, had both its cars inside the top 10.
“We’ve spent the last few days analysing the past weekend and ensuring we learn as much as possible from it,” Seidl said.
“The result in Spa was not what we hoped but we can take these learnings and use them to maximise our package.
“We need to keep our full focus on making every small gain and pushing the car to get as much as we possibly can out of it.”
Ricciardo, who started seventh only to fall to 15th last weekend, added: “Last weekend was not what we wanted it to be, but we’ve bounced back before so we can definitely do the same this time around.
“We’ve got some good learnings from Spa which we can use for this weekend so hopefully we come out a bit better and can properly battle with the Alpines.”
McLaren scored just a single point at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, courtesy of Norris.
Free Practice 1 in Zandvoort gets underway at 20:30 AEST on Friday.
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