So, this new Zandvoort?

Thursday morning, at the time of the track walk, the excitement was greater than usual among the drivers. Everyone was eager to discover these famous banks drawn on this new version of the route. " That's really nice ", slips Victor Martins, who comes to perch at the top of the first of the two banked turns, number 3.

Inclinations of approximately 18° and 19° create a dry slope of 33%, in homage to the country star's running number Max Verstappen. We had the chance to do two laps of the circuit by bike, and the least we can say is that you have to have both hands firmly attached to the handlebars to stay balanced.

“It’s going to be rock’n’roll”, exclaimed David Vidales, very excited at the idea of ​​driving on these ramps. We also saw the three MP Motorsport drivers lying down in it, as if to better understand the phenomenon.

The first runs quickly confirmed the initial impressions. " It's really cool, explain to us Oscar piastri, the FIA ​​champion F3 came to test to understand the circuit in view of the next seasons.

The banking of No. 3 is confusing. I've never seen anything like this before. The last corner goes flat out, so there's nothing revolutionary, but No. 3 is really special, because the traditional fast lines aren't here. »

On Thursday, in collective testing, all the drivers took this famous banking on the inside, like a normal turn. Before finally changing lines the next day. “We realized that the further and higher we went in the banking, the more grip we had and the more speed we maintained, Caio Collet deciphered it for us.

The key is to come in facing the wall and round your corner exit to the outside, because it goes up a lot on the inside and you would lose too much speed. »

“When you look from above, the line of this turn 3 is quite special,” explains Mathieu Zangarelli, ART Grand Prix team manager. In fact, we must move away from the theory of a classic turn. Another consequence is that management is becoming much tougher with regard to the compression in banking. » As a result, the drivers struggled a lot on the first day physically to turn the wheel.

“We had to adjust the direction a little to make things easier for them, specifies “Zanga”, even if we didn't just do it for this turn. With the last bank going full throttle, it's only turn 3 that's a problem. But if we start thinking about adjusting the car just for that corner, we're clearly missing the point..."

Turning wind

More than banking, it is especially the wind that poses a problem for engineers in Zandvoort. The circuit, barely protected by the short dunes that surround it, faces the North Sea and its squalls. “The difficulty is that the wind shifts a lot and its intensity and direction change. All this impacts the piloting and the choice of aero load that we put on the car », details Mathieu Zangarelli.

Add to that the showers that come and go and you get a nice cocktail. Regarding the route as a whole, purists will appreciate the very relative width of the track and the few escape routes.

Here, every mistake is paid for by going through the gravel. Zandvoort should fall into the category of circuits that are impressive in qualifying, but perhaps a little boring in the race. It is indeed very difficult to imagine F1 on such a narrow route, where overtaking should not be legion.

The Eurocup didn't offer much, even if this championship, deprived of DRS and push-to-pass, is a bad barometer. Concretely, apart from at the first corner, it is difficult to see how to build an overtake elsewhere. And again, the pit straight does not seem long enough to carry out a maneuver successfully. F1 has been warned: it will be necessary to perform in qualifying!