Ten facts about Zandvoort and the Netherlands by Williams

      Like all teams in the championship, Williams is preparing for the first race after the August break, and the British team is pleased that this race will be the Dutch Grand Prix at the track in Zandvoort, interesting in its own way.

      The team’s press office compiled a selection of ten facts that give an insight into the Dutch round of the season and its distinctive features. The last, 10th, is of course related to the fact that the original version of this text was written in English.

      72

      On Sunday the drivers will have to complete 72 laps of this circuit, which is distinguished by an undulating profile. By number of laps it is the second on the calendar, and only Monaco has more — 78.

      117

      Zandvoort is located on the shore of the North Sea, and it turns out that it is not much farther from some British towns than Silverstone. For example, from the town of Lowestoft on England’s east coast to the main entrance of the Dutch circuit is just 117 miles, while to Silverstone it is 120.

      52.3711

      The Zandvoort circuit is situated at this latitude — it is the northernmost of all the tracks on the calendar. Before the Dutch Grand Prix returned to the championship, the northernmost was Silverstone.

      20

      In 1979 the race in Zandvoort was won by Alan Jones — it was Williams’ fourth victory that season and the fourth in the team’s history. The Australian then crossed the finish line just over 20 seconds ahead of the driver who finished second, and in fact lapped everyone except those who made the podium — such was the scale of his advantage.

      14

      A lap at Zandvoort consists of only 14 turns — fewer only at Montreal (13), Monza (11) and the Red Bull Ring (10). However, the Catalan circuit in Barcelona and the Hungaroring also have 14.

      18

      The incredible final corner at Zandvoort, with 18 degrees of banking, is named after Arie Luyendyk, the Dutch driver and two-time Indy 500 winner. That is roughly twice as steep as the banking of the turns on the Indianapolis oval.

      4.259

      The Dutch circuit first hosted a Formula 1 race in 1952 and, with few interruptions, continued to host the Dutch Grand Prix until 1985. When the event returned to the championship in 2021, the circuit configuration was heavily changed, especially in the second half of the lap. However, its current length of 4.259 km remains almost the same as that of the old Zandvoort — 4.252 km.

      2.9

      The Dutch have grown to love Formula 1 in recent years, and in general the country is famous for having more bicycles than inhabitants (22 million versus 17 million). It is said that the average Dutch person cycles 2.9 km a day, which is roughly 1,000 km a year.

      176

      The Dutch are considered the tallest nation in the world — their average height is 176 cm, while the male population averages 182.6 cm. That is only 3.4 cm shorter than Alex Albon’s height.

      90

      There is no need to translate these facts into Dutch, because more than 90% of the country’s population speaks English. Overall, 94% of Dutch people speak at least two languages, which is far above the EU average of 54%.