F1 News
F1 drivers concerned about wind gusts, Circuit Zandvoort expects no problems
- Ludo van Denderen
As the thousands of spectators now pass through the gates of Circuit Zandvoort, the weather is by no means pleasant. On the coast of North Holland, the wind is already quite strong, which is going to make the free practice sessions this Friday quite a challenge for the drivers. KNMI has even issued code yellow for the area, as wind gusts of 80 to 85 kilometres per hour are expected. The drivers are worried, the FIA and Circuit Zandvoort management are not (yet).
GPblog asked both the FIA and the organisers of the Dutch Grand Prix this Friday morning if they foresaw any problems due to the wind gusts. Both revealed that they do not see that at the moment, although they are obviously keeping a close eye on the situation. So are the teams and drivers. Lando Norris (McLaren) is even slightly worried about a good outcome.
Norris fears wall crash
After all, an F1 car is not built to deal with ever-changing wind speeds - and directions. "A car then becomes much harder to drive than people think," Norris told GPblog and others. "Even if it's 20-25 km/h, it's already a lot for us. Even if it's no wind down to 10 km/h, you notice a difference. If it's just a steady 25 km/h, you notice a big difference. But it's going to be 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, so I don't know. I've never experienced anything like that. To be honest, it can be quite dangerous because if you go into a corner at a certain speed, like turn 7, and you have a 60, 70, 80 km/h wind changing the car, there's nothing you can do as a driver."
Should the wind take hold of the car, a crash could happen in no time, Norris realised. "The driver can do nothing wrong and still end up in a wall. Nothing. So it's not about good anticipation. You can't do that because you never know what the wind is going to do. To be honest, I have no idea. I have to go out on the track and find out for myself."
This article has been written in collaboration with Ben Stevens.
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