02/02/2020
NEWS STORY
At the beginning of May, Formula One returns to the legendary seaside track at Zandvoort following a 35-year absence.
It is no coincidence, that at a time the man who has led the redevelopment of the track, Jarno Zaffelli, describes the circuit as being for "brave drivers", the last Grand Prix at the track in the dunes was the legendary Niki Lauda, who passed away last year.
As work continues on the track, not least the banked final corner which will be steeper than the turns at Indianapolis, to give the race some added spice, Zaffelli and his team have held back a certain amount of data in order that following their simulator tests the teams still have work to do.
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"All F1 teams work scientifically," said Zandvoort sporting director, Jan Lammers recently, according to Motorsport.com, "so if he (Zafelli) gives all the data to them they will enter it into their simulator programmes in no time.
"That is exactly what we don't want to happen," he admitted. "So what he gives them is very limited. We want drivers to go out on the track during Friday practice to find the best possible set-up. So that is a bit of old school racing and makes the weekend probably a bit unpredictable. It will be a bit of a challenge for them.
"He absolutely doesn't want them to have too much information beforehand, so they can do a lot of preparatory work in the simulator. He basically wants teams to find out everything during Friday practice sessions. Maybe that could make the weekend a bit more exciting.
"Normally Formula 1 teams are a bit cautious during Friday practices, to save tyres for the rest of the weekend," he continued. "But I think the drivers will drive even more laps on Friday than during the race on Sunday, because of the new track. Everyone will be out on track pretty early in FP1. They will have to make the most of Friday practices to gather information for the best possible setup on Saturday and Sunday.
"The Luyendyk corner will be a bit more spectacular than we initially thought," he added "That is because this corner will be two metres higher than before, which means drivers will go a bit downhill when they enter the main straight. These differences in height make it even better for drivers."