Formula 1’s two new venues, Zandvoort and Hanoi, have both declared themselves ready to host their respective Grands Prix in 2020.
For fans, the return of the Dutch GP for the first time since 1985 is an exciting prospect with a sea of orange and dark blue expected as Max Verstappen’s army make their presence felt.
Of course, much has changed in F1 since the last time Zandvoort held a race and one of the main concerns was whether the fast, flowing circuit would provide much action given the lack of overtaking areas.
To try and address that, the track has gone all-out with a spectacular new banked final corner angled at 18 degrees to allow the cars to go flat out onto the main straight.
Also, other areas, such as Turns 2 and 3 (the latter pictured below), have been altered to offer a very different challenge from most other circuits.
“We did something that we thought would be really formidable to drive, that has no equal at any other racetracks,” Jarno Zaffelli, the founder of Dromo Circuit Design, who oversaw the changes, said via Crash.net.
“All of your horizon is tilting, all of your perception is evolving, you feel like you are being squeezed. It’s like being in a corkscrew, depending on the line that you are following.”
With two heavily banked corners at Zandvoort, Pirelli is testing a special front tyre to cope with the challenge in Barcelona and has confirmed the hardest three compounds will be used for the Dutch GP.
Also, given the lack of run-off area, special SAFER barriers have been installed by American company SmithFence, who who have previous experience on safety at ovals used for NASCAR and IndyCar.
As for the new Vietnam GP, a brand new semi-permanent street circuit has been created in Hanoi combining long straights with a sweeping final sector.
Right now, only the permanent parts of the track have been completed, including the pit building and grandstands around the first sequence of turns, but the entire circuit has been resurfaced with only the final barriers needing to be erected.
There is still a question mark over whether the race will go ahead, however, as the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the globe.
But on Wednesday, F1 CEO Chase Carey insisted Vietnam would go ahead as planned.
Due to the postponement of the Chinese GP, both races will now take place back-to-back with Hanoi on April 5 and Zandvoort of May 3.