Circuit Zandvoort

How it began

The circuit winds through the dunes on the North Sea coast by the resort town of Zandvoort, west of Amsterdam; the first race here was held on 7 August 1948 and won by Prince Bira. The Dutch Grand Prix joined the World Championship on 17 August 1952, when Alberto Ascari won for Ferrari.

With some gaps, the race was held until 1985: on 25 August 1985 Niki Lauda beat Alain Prost to take the last win of his career, after which Zandvoort dropped off the calendar for more than three decades. A return was planned for 2020 but was postponed because of the pandemic; on 5 September 2021 Max Verstappen won the first race of the new era from pole.

The 2026 race has been announced as the last: the organisers decided not to extend the contract beyond this season.

The track

The 4.259 km lap has 14 corners and the race is 72 laps — one of the shortest and narrowest tracks on the calendar, rising and falling over the dunes. The first corner, Tarzan, is a wide, sloping right-hander and the main overtaking spot.

For the championship’s return in 2021 two corners were given banking: the third, Hugenholtz, and the last, Arie Luyendyk, banked at about 18 degrees, which leads the cars onto the start-finish straight.

Memorable races

On 26 August 1979 Gilles Villeneuve, after a puncture, drove back to the pits on three wheels, dragging the broken suspension behind him. On 28 August 1983 title rivals Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost collided at Tarzan, and René Arnoux won.

On 27 August 2023 Verstappen won in the rain for his ninth win in a row, equalling Sebastian Vettel’s record from 2013. On 25 August 2024 Lando Norris won — the first winner from outside Red Bull since the race returned.