The full story behind Zandvoort's return to F1

Every now and then, a Formula 1 driver comes along and ignites the passion of their compatriots, and becomes the sole focal point of the series in their home country.

In the early 1990s, Michael Schumacher sent F1 interest in Germany sky rocketing, and a decade later Fernando Alonso did the same in Spain, saving a Barcelona race that had struggled to draw a crowd for years. More recently Mexico's love for Sergio Perez ensured the revival of his home race in 2015, after an absence of 23 seasons.

Max Verstappen has now single-handedly done the same in the Netherlands. The Dutch Grand Prix has had an even longer gap - it was last held in 1985.

It wasn't hard to miss the building of support for the Red Bull star given the number of Dutch fans in bright orange T-shirts attending F1 races over the past three or four seasons, and this was not just the case in Europe. In the end, the appeal for a race in his home country proved irresistible to F1's bosses.

"Probably the first thing I remember that made Holland stand out, and I think it was the race in Austria, was a sea of orange," F1 CEO Chase Carey noted at the Zandvoort 2020 race launch this week.

"I don't know how many fans there were, but there must have been 25,000, and Austria must be an eight-hour drive from [the Netherlands]. So clearly there is a unique passion and excitement for the sport, and that's an important part [of the new race deal]. We want to grow it everywhere, but when you have a place that has that type of passion, clearly there's something special there, and clearly Max has added a dimension to that."

Zandvoort has something else to add to the mix, and that's a storied past. Half of the revised track may now follow a different route, but it is still essentially the same venue that first opened in 1948, and hosted a world championship race from '52 to '85, bar a few breaks.

Liberty Media is understandably wary of being seen to desert F1's heartland for pastures new, and so reviving a lost classic European race in a country where a sellout crowd is guaranteed was always going to be an easy win.

"We have an incredible history at Zandvoort," added Carey. "It was 35 years ago that we last raced here, but we've had some of our great races here, some of our greatest heroes have raced here, and it really is a track that is a tremendously important part of F1.

"There's no question, the global nature of the sport is incredibly important to us, and we're excited to add new races, like the one in Vietnam we'll also add next year. But Europe is our home, Europe is our foundation, Europe is the base on which we build this sport, and so to bring the sport back to a great iconic track in Europe is incredibly important to us."

Finding the money for the 2020 race was confused somewhat by rival venue Assen throwing its hat into the ring, despite Zandvoort being the logical candidate

Zandvoort also fits Carey's mantra of going to "destination cities". It might not be as globally recognised as a Miami or Las Vegas, but it is a popular holiday resort in the Netherlands, and crucially it sits close to Amsterdam, from which sponsor guests and other high rollers can commute.

What made the Dutch GP revival a reality was ultimately the Max factor, combined with the obvious ambition and drive from Zandvoort's key players.

"Every race depends on a partnership, our local partners," Carey noted. "You've got to execute. Races don't happen by themselves. Ultimately, the vision we had for what it could be was married to a team that we felt could execute on it. It really was a building set of things."

One of the key members of that Zandvoort team is Jan Lammers, the 1988 Le Mans winner and former grand prix driver who was hired as the sporting director of the event by circuit owner Prince Bernhard van Oranje.

In putting the race together, Lammers and his colleagues had to consider three main areas - the money to make the event happen had to be found, the FIA and F1 had to agree that the track was safe enough and suitable to hold a grand prix, and the logistical issues of getting fans in and out had to be addressed.

The matter of finding the money was confused somewhat by rival venue Assen throwing its hat into the ring, despite Zandvoort being the logical candidate.

"Last year, October/November, Zandvoort signed a provisional agreement," says Lammers. "And they had six months to figure it all out financially and everything. It was a little difficult for us, because the agreement with Zandvoort was official and endorsed by FOM, and a grand prix in Assen was only announced by Assen itself, and never confirmed by FOM.

"So that created some confusion, particularly with the partners and sponsors. It required a lot of explanation, and it also created some confusion among the fans. The suggestion that Assen was seriously in the race wasn't in my opinion a fair one. But still, we managed to communicate it in a fair way. Assen has a great heritage with the TT. And Zandvoort was always built as a race track for cars. And Zandvoort, in my opinion, is the home of the Dutch GP."

An impressive portfolio of backers has been put together - mostly family-run companies, whose wealthy bosses have a strong connection to cars or racing, and who therefore have a personal interest in seeing the Dutch GP return. Nevertheless, it still had to make sense for them.

"You have to get it all economically in place," continues Lammers. "The initial enthusiasm with the partners and sponsors was enormous, but then you also have to close all those deals, and of course that requires a few rounds of visits, then principle agreements, then final agreements.

"When you ask people to participate, that's one thing. When you ask them to participate for three years, of course that's another challenge. Things like that just require time, but all-in-all I think it went very smoothly. By the end of March, we realised it was going to happen."

The list of partners, one that rival venues will look at with envy, is headed by title sponsor Heineken. The brewer came into F1 in the Bernie Ecclestone era largely to promote its brand in key markets outside Europe, but it could hardly say no to the opportunity to back its home event.

Then there's the Jumbo supermarket chain, a longtime personal backer of Verstappen, and automotive company Pon Holdings, whose founder Ben Pon Jr raced a Porsche in the 1962 Dutch GP.

Talpa Network, run by TV reality show mogul John de Mol, owns a network of radio stations, which will be involved in the promotion of the race. E-commerce concern CM.com will handle ticket sales. Construction giant VolkerWessels - part-owned by former F1 owners CVC Capital - will be responsible for building work on the circuit's facilities and the track itself.

"It's a track that is going to be very unforgiving" Jan Lammers

Fortunately, relatively little construction is required. There will be no pit demolition and rebuilding project - what's already in place will be modified.

"The pit building will be made eight metres deeper so all the teams can accommodate their equipment there," says Lammers. "Obviously FOM has learned that it's not in their interest to have facilities like us invest over the top amounts, because if in the end you can't recover the money... We've tried to learn from Silverstone, a beautiful facility, but hard to pay for it.

"Also there will be two or three more hospitality units created, while grandstands will be new, or renovated."

Changes to the circuit itself will be few, and what does need to be done stems largely from a visit the late Charlie Whiting paid to the track last year. He subsequently confirmed that, with a few tweaks, Zandvoort was ready to host a grand prix once again.

Circumstances have played into the track's hands. After the 1994 season, the FIA conducted a lot of research on run-off areas, identifying the most dangerous corners of the season, and adapting them where possible.

But over the years, improvements to the cars mean that they are better able to deal with impacts, and so the need for acres of run-off has somewhat lessened. An old-school track such Zandvoort, which is closely lined by guardrails, has come back into play.

"We're lucky because all the safety around F1 has evolved in such a way that tracks that otherwise wouldn't be safe enough are safe now because the cars are so safe," says Lammers. "In that respect the whole development came our way.

"Of course, Charlie had great memories here in Zandvoort, and thank god he appreciated the challenges that the track offers. In my opinion it is in the same line with Brands Hatch, Suzuka, Spa, the old Nurburgring and Watkins Glen. That's a special breed of race track, and I think it's great that FOM has embraced that and endorsed it by getting it this far. It was nice that Charlie saw it. I'm sure that all the changes will have been based on his advice."

For fans (and indeed drivers) who rue the sterile nature of so many modern tracks - where mistakes are not punished - a return to Zandvoort surely must be good news.

"It's a track that is going to be very unforgiving, of course," explains Lammers. "But we've seen that in Baku, and we know that from Monaco, one mistake and your race weekend can be over. That will be the case, but if you want to have a nice event you have to be prepared to pay the price in a certain way, somewhere.

"It will be a track where it will be crucial that you don't make mistakes. It adds to the unpredictability, and that unpredictability is probably what we want at the moment."

Safety is one thing, but the actual racing is another. A couple of slow sections are being tweaked, but the most significant planned change is that banking will be added to make the quick final corner even faster, in theory allowing drivers to select DRS early and give them more chance of passing on the run to first corner, Tarzan.

An already short pitlane will also be given a revised entry, which will cut pit stop times in order to encourage more strategic variety.

It's a more modest programme of works than many renovated tracks have undergone. But nevertheless this has to be completed in time for the start of Zandvoort's 2020 racing season, and at a venue that is in frequent use.

"Of course when the big day is here, we will dress up nicely," continues Lammers. "Most of the work is already done in terms of planning or designing. We will just do it in the most financially economical way, but also with a focus on the quality of the job, so there's no point in having to rush it.

Serious consideration was given to making Zandvoort operate like a typical flyaway race

"I'm sure a good road building company will do all the work in a couple of weeks, if it's needed. VolkerWessels is one of our partners, and they are experts on that level, so I'm sure that they are not going to let us down.

"We can do all the things without cutting too much of the exploitation of the race track, and that's important of course, because that's where part of the money also has to come from. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, but we've taken that into account."

Perhaps the most complex challenge the organisers face is dealing with the inevitable huge crowd and the ensuing traffic at the venue. A park and ride system - using bicycles provided by Pon Holdings subsidiary Gazelle - is one option that fans could opt to use.

"We'll try to inform the public as much as possible what is the most efficient way to get there," says Lammers. "We'll try to get a little pleasure out of the way people get there, because you can either stand in a traffic jam or you can motivate them by selling a combined ticket.

"A combined ticket can go in different ways, but one of them is to go the last bit with a bicycle. Holland is a cycling country, and I'm sure if the weather blesses us that weekend, then it's a great bicycle ride through the dunes. And at the same time, you're helping us to make the most sustainable grand prix."

The Zandvoort local council has promised €4.1m to improve local infrastructure and support activities in the week of the race, although the country's central government declined to get involved, at least financially.

The other big logistical challenge for the new race involves the teams. The main paddock is tiny, and there's limited space to accommodate the modern breed of giant hospitality units, which can't be parked behind the trucks, as is usually the case.

Serious consideration was given to making Zandvoort operate like a typical flyaway race, with modest locally provided hospitality units replacing the team behemoths. That won't happen now, but it will still be a squeeze, with potentially a full support race paddock also needing space.

But Lammers remains confident that come next May, his home town will be ready to put on a great show.

"When you see the overhead shot of Zandvoort during a grand prix you'll have a fantastic orange party ignited by Heineken, and our Dutch DJs and artists. It will be a family fun week, if you like, rather than just the Sunday."