The Dutch Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2021 after a 36-year absence. Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about Zandvoort ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix!
Track length: 4.259km
Race length: 306.587km
Laps: 72
Turns: 14
Circuit opened: 1948
F1 first visited: 1952
Races held: 32
Track Record: 1:08.885, Max Verstappen, 2021
Lap Record: 1:11.097, Lewis Hamilton, 2021
DUTCH GRAND PRIX WINNERS
There have been 32 previous races held at Zandvoort since the Dutch Grand Prix became a round of the World Championship in 1952. 30 of those were held between 1952 and 1985 and the circuit returned for a second stint on the calendar in 2021.
The return of the Dutch Grand Prix saw Zandvoort came 36 years and 11 days after the previous race at the track. It’s the second longest gap between two races at a single circuit.
In the 32 previous Zandvoort races, there have been twenty different winners.
Jim Clark has the most Dutch Grand Prix wins
Jim Clark holds the record for most wins at the track with four – a record which he’s guaranteed to hold as his own until at least 2024.
Max Verstappen took victory at his home race on the Dutch Grand Prix’s return to the calendar in 2021 and won again in 2022. He, therefore, is the only current driver to have previously won a Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are the only drivers who had been born when the Dutch Grand Prix last appeared on the calendar in the 1980s.
Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt and Max Verstappen are the only drivers to have taken back-to-back wins at Zandvoort. Jim Clark is the only driver to have taken more than two consecutive wins at the circuit, winning three times in a row between 1963 and 1965.
British drivers have had more wins here than drivers from any other nation, with 11 victories. That means more than a third of races here have been won by a British driver.
The longest streak of different winners at the Dutch Grand Prix is eight, which has happened twice. There were no repeat winners at the track in the eight events from 1953 to 1963, nor were there any repeat winners between 1976 and 1982.
Two drivers have recorded Grand Slams at the Dutch Grand Prix – Alberto Ascari in 1952 and Jim Clark in 1962.
Ferrari have more Dutch Grand Prix wins than any other team
Ferrari are the team with the most wins at the track, with eight.
Clark’s streak of wins between 1963 and 1965 makes Lotus the only team to have taken three consecutive wins at Zandvoort. Ferrari, Matra, McLaren and Red Bull are the only other teams to have taken successive wins at the track.
There have been 11 occasions on which a team has taken a 1-2 finish at the Dutch Grand Prix. Most recently, McLaren finished with their cars in first and second place in 1984 and 1985.
Ford are the engine manufacturer with the most Dutch Grand Prix wins, having powered ten cars to victory at Zandvoort.
Two drivers have won the Dutch Grand Prix by over a lap
The largest win margin at Zandvoort is one lap, with both Jim Clark and Jack Brabham winning by over a lap in 1963 and 1966 respectively.
The smallest win margin at the circuit is 0.232 seconds, which is the gap by which Niki Lauda won for McLaren in the most recent Dutch Grand Prix in 1985.
Five races at the circuit have been won by less than a second, eight have been won by less than five seconds and 12 have been won by less than ten seconds.
From the last ten races at the track, the average win margin at the Dutch Grand Prix is 11.910 seconds.
Since F1 returned to Zandvoort in 2021, the average win margin has been 12.128 seconds.
ON THE PODIUM
54 different drivers have finished on the podium so far at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Two drivers share the record for most Dutch Grand Prix podiums
Jim Clark and Niki Lauda share the record for most podiums at Zandvoort, with six each.
Max Verstappen is the only current driver to take multiple podiums at Zandvoort, while Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Charles Leclerc have also finished on the Dutch Grand Prix podium in the last two seasons.
British drivers have over double the number of podiums of any other nationality, with 28 (compared to France’s 13).
Ferrari are the team with the most podium finishes here, with their drivers finishing in the top three on 25 occasions.
The furthest back a podium finish has come from at Zandvoort is 16th on the grid, which happened for Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix. At least one podium finisher came from outside the top nine on the grid in every race at the circuit between 1979 and 1985.
The 1968 Dutch Grand Prix is the only race at the track where none of the top three qualifiers have gone on to finish on the podium.
There have been four races at the track where the top three on the grid have all finished on the podium, with them finishing in the order that they started in 1970, 1974, 1978 and 2021.
DUTCH GRAND PRIX POLESITTERS
From the 32 races at the track, there have been 21 different polesitters.
Arnoux’s pole record could be equalled in 2023
Rene Arnoux holds the record for the most pole positions at Zandvoort, with three.
Max Verstappen is the only driver on the current grid who has started from pole for the Dutch Grand Prix, having taken pole in both 2021 and 2022.
Alberto Ascari, Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti, Rene Arnoux and Max Verstappen are the five drivers who have taken back-to-back poles at Zandvoort. No driver has taken more than two consecutive poles at the track.
The longest streak of different polesitters at Zandvoort is 11. There was a different polesitter in all 11 Dutch Grands Prix held between 1953 and 1966.
British drivers have the most poles of any nationality, with six.
Lotus have the most poles of any team at Zandvoort
Lotus have had more Dutch Grand Prix poles than any other team, with eight.
Renault hold the record for the most consecutive team poles here, with four in a row between 1989 and 1982. Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull are the only other teams who have taken successive poles at the Dutch Grand Prix.
There have been nine occasions on which a team has locked-out the front row at the Dutch Grand Prix. It last happened in 1982.
Ascari took pole by over two seconds in 1952
Alberto Ascari holds the record for the largest pole margin at Zandvoort, lapping 2.1 seconds faster than any other driver in qualifying for the inaugural championship Dutch Grand Prix in 1952.
There have been two dead heats in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1959, Jo Bonnier and Jack Brabham set the same time to the nearest tenth of a second (Bonnier started from pole), while in 1961, Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips set identical times (Hill started from pole).
Pole for the Dutch Grand Prix has been decided by less than a tenth of a second on seven occasions, including in each of the last two seasons.
The average pole margin at Zandvoort is 0.409 seconds. From the last ten Dutch Grands Prix, the average pole margin is 0.299 seconds.
The smallest gap between the slowest and fastest times in qualifying for a race at Zandvoort came in 1980, when 3.09 seconds separated polesitter Rene Arnoux from 28th place Keke Rosberg, who failed to qualify. Meanwhile, a gap of 17.4 seconds is the largest qualifying spread here, which happened in 1953.
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
14 of the 32 races held so far at Zandvoort have been won from pole, while 24 have been won from the front row of the grid. That means eight wins have come from third or further back on the grid.
The furthest back win at Zandvoort came from tenth on the grid. It has happened twice, for Rene Arnoux in 1983 and Niki Lauda in 1985. The polesitter has suffered 11 retirements at this track.
The polesitter has gone on to finish on the podium on 17 occasions, and there have been three occasions on which the polesitter has finished on the podium without winning the race; though the polesitter has never finished third at Zandvoort.
There have been 15 occasions on which the Dutch Grand Prix polesitter has not led at the end of the first lap. Rene Arnoux is the only Dutch Grand Prix polesitter to retire on Lap 1. He pulled into the pits with a damaged car at the end of the opening lap in the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix following a collision.
SUNDAY STATISTICS
So far in F1’s history, 2,505 racing laps have been completed at Zandvoort.
725 cars have been entered into the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Of those, 678 have qualified for races and 670 cars have started the Grand Prix. Of those 670 cars, 356 crossed the finish line. That gives an overall finish rate of 53%.
The lowest number of drivers to finish a race at Zandvoort is seven, which happened in 1979. Until 2021, the most was 15, which happened in 1961. That race saw every driver who started the Grand Prix finish it, which for decades was the only such occurrence in the sport. The 2022 Dutch Grand Prix had 18 finishers.
The highest number of drivers to finish on the lead lap at the Dutch Grand Prix is 17, which happened in 2022. The fewest number of drivers to finish on the lead lap is one, which happened when Jim Clark and Jack Brabham won by over a lap in 1963 and 1966 respectively. On average, four drivers are still on the lead lap by the end of a race at Zandvoort.
Jim Clark has led the most laps at Zandvoort
No one has led more laps at Zandvoort than Jim Clark. Clark led 370 laps at the Dutch Grand Prix over the course of his career – over double the number of any other driver.
Ronnie Peterson holds the record for most laps led at the Dutch Grand Prix without winning. He spent 74 laps at the front of the field at Zandvoort but never took a win.
There have been ten occasions on which the race winner has led every lap at the Dutch Grand Prix. It happened eight times in the first ten races at Zandvoort, but has happened only twice since 1965.
There have been only three occasions on which the race winner was not the driver who led the most laps of the Grand Prix. The fewest laps led en-route to victory at the Dutch Grand Prix is nine, which is how many laps Jackie Stewart led in 1973.
Red Flags and Safety Cars at the Dutch Grand Prix
The Safety Car made its first ever appearance at the Dutch Grand Prix in 2022. There was also a Virtual Safety Car period in the race. The Safety Car was not introduced into Formula 1 until after 1985 and it did not make an appearance in the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix.
Five races at Zandvoort have been affected by rain.
There is yet to be a red-flagged Dutch Grand Prix, and there is yet to be a race at Zandvoort which has not run to its scheduled distance.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DUTCH GRAND PRIX
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
There has never been a World Champion crowned at the track, but Lotus and McLaren were crowned Constructors’ Champions here in 1978 and 1984 respectively.
The first dead rubber race in F1 history was held at Zandvoort in 1952, with Alberto Ascari having already wrapped up the title prior to the Dutch Grand Prix. That’s the only time that a dead rubber race has been held in the Netherlands. Read more: F1’s Dead Rubber Races.
From the 32 races held here, the winner of the Dutch Grand Prix has gone on to win the title in the same year on 15 occasions, while the polesitter has gone on to be crowned that season’s champion on 12 occasions. The leader of the championship after a race at Zandvoort has gone on to win that year’s title 24 times.
