The return of the Dutch Grand Prix is set to come at the expense of Spain’s place on the 2020 Formula 1 calendar, Motorsport.com claims.
Zandvoort has reportedly agreed to a deal in principle with Liberty Media to host the sport for the first time since 1985 next season, with the final signatures required.
A deadline was thought to be set for the end of March to secure the race, but it appears there is enough confidence to proceed as the final efforts to secure the necessary funding.
When the prospect of taking F1 back to Zandvoort was first suggested, many wondered if it was possible to update the facilities to meet modern safety standards.
But after an inspection, then FIA race director Charlie Whiting appeared confident.
I think there’s great potential there in Zandvoort,” he said last October. “A few things need to be changed there but there’s a great willingness to change.
“They’re coming back to us with some proposals, and we’ll see purely from a circuit point of view – nothing to do with the commercial elements of it – but from a circuit safety point of view, I think it could be done.
“There would be a nice long straight good enough to use DRS well, and you’d maintain the historic elements of the circuit as well. I think it would be a very nice circuit.”
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As for the Spanish Grand Prix, it has taken place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya since 1991 and in the height of Fernando Alonso’s success, the country even hosted the European GP on a street track in Valencia.
But with the double world champion gone, it appears so has the appetite for a race at least, although the venue may still remain the destination for winter testing.