Zandvoort is not worried about Oranjezee: ‘We have 109,000 security guards’

• Joost Smedema

  Editor NOS Sport

Along the straight, on the other side of the pit lane, the covered main stand clearly towers over Circuit Zandvoort. Now I do.

In fifty days (2 to 4 September), a wall of orange, 40,000 strong between the last and first corner, hopes for a second consecutive victory of Max Verstappen in the Grand Prix of the Netherlands.

It will be the first edition as the organization had in mind when the contracts with the motorsport federation FIA and Formula 1 were signed in 2019.

Due to the corona pandemic, the race had to be canceled in 2020, last year the capacity could only be used for two thirds for the same reason.

Three times 70,000 race fans saw Verstappen triumph in radiant September weather. “Of course the result was fantastic, but we had to disappoint a third of our visitors,” says circuit director Robert van Overdijk. “Now we go for 110,000 visitors a day.”

The tens of thousands of orange fans turned the grand prix in Zandvoort into a modern classic in one fell swoop. McLaren driver Lando Norris could point to nothing that he did not like and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel allowed Formula 1 to come back for at least 15 years.

The image of the Orange Sea did take a hit around the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend. Lewis Hamilton’s booing after a crash in qualifying was followed on Sunday by reports of sexist, racist and transgressive behaviour.

The Dutch racing fans caused bad publicity worldwide. But for Van Overdijk there is a clear difference between the grand prix in Spielberg and the race weekend at the North Sea.

“A lot of comparisons are now being made between Austria and Zandvoort. Of course what happened last week is absolutely unacceptable. On the other hand: we showed in Zandvoort that we are much more a family event than an event where you go with your friends.”

“By presenting yourself as a family event, the men who showed that behavior last week with all kinds of groups of friends come here with their wives by the hand. If last year was a family event for 70,000 people, that should also work. for 110,000 people.”

“I expect 109,000 of them to be from the security”, sports director Jan Lammers also relies on “the common sense of the people”.

The former Formula 1 driver and figurehead of the Dutch grand prix clearly addresses the “small group of ringleaders”: “If you misbehave in a pub, you will be kicked out. That is exactly the same here.”

For Van Overdijk, the misconduct in Austria is therefore no reason to increase security. “There are already cameras, security guards and hundreds of volunteers on the site. We don’t have to scale up in that. If something unexpected happens, I think there is only one solution: grab people by the scruff of the neck and put them outside the gate. .”

The huge fan base that Max Verstappen has gathered is the reason that Formula 1 returned to Zandvoort in the first place.

And not without success, because in addition to the drivers, F1 CEO Ross Brawn also showed enthusiasm during the first edition of the ‘new style’. “Max can last a long time, so we definitely intend to come back here often.”

It still makes Van Overdijk gleam with pride. “It is unique that a village with 17,000 inhabitants can be on the calendar with world cities such as Miami and Las Vegas. There is discussion about the races in Monaco, Spa-Francorchamps and France, but that is not an issue for us.”

“Where the whole world said why it would not be possible to organize a race at Zandvoort, we have set a new standard in terms of mobility,” Van Overdijk points out about the way in which the tens of thousands of spectators traveled in and out of the beach village last year. It went smoother than on a typical summer day.

All over 100,000 spectators will come this year by train, bus, on foot or by bicycle. The only ones who come to the track by car have contractually enforced it. But even there, Van Overdijk wants to do something in the coming years, to make the GP at Zandvoort the first car-free grand prix. Except for the twenty cars.