This weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix marks a milestone in Pirelli’s time in Formula 1, as this race will be the five hundredth world championship round of motorsport’s blue riband category in which the Italian marque has had an official presence.
A lap of Zandvoort track is 4.259 kilometres in length, running through the dunes on the North Sea coast, just under 40 kilometres from the capital of the Netherlands.
It boasts 14 low to medium speed corners – four to the left and ten to the right – of which the third and last are banked at angles of 19 and 18 degrees respectively, must steeper than the turns at Indianapolis.
These corners generate very high vertical and lateral loads on the tyres, which requires the teams to pay close attention to set-up and management of the car-tyre package.
The aerodynamic downforce level required is very high, similar to that seen in Budapest. The track usually offers low levels of grip and this can be greatly exacerbated by sand blown onto the surface by the coastal winds.
For the race in the Netherlands, Pirelli has gone a step softer in terms of compounds than last year. The teams will have a choice of the C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft).
The decision, taken in conjunction with the FIA, has the aim of increasing the likelihood of a strategy based on two stops, rather than just the one-stop, which has been the predominant choice since this race returned to the calendar in 2022.
In 2024, 16 drivers lined up on the gird on the Medium tyre, while three drivers went for the Soft tyre, with one driver starting from the pit lane on the Hard tyre.
Three quarter of the field made just one stop during the race, taking on the Hard tyre as the second set.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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