Five Dutch Grand Prix moments that defined Zandvoort’s Formula 1 farewell

5. 1985 – Lauda’s last win

The winning debut of the Cosworth DFV in 1967 probably deserves to be here, but we’ve written about the Lotus 49 this year already. So let’s instead salute the great Niki Lauda’s final GP win, on Zandvoort’s F1 swansong – until 2021. An early tyre change had put Lauda’s McLaren, above, back in the pack but, once the stops had shaken out, he was in front. Team-mate Alain Prost fought past Ayrton Senna to latch on to Lauda, but on this day there was no shaking him. Victory by just 0.232sec.

4. 2022 – Home hero

Of modern Dutch GPs, this gets the verdict due to its late safety car and unpredicted jeopardy. Max Verstappen, above, had done the business with Red Bull in ’21, the first GP at Zandvoort in 36 years, and it seemed little could derail him a year later. Then Valtteri Bottas parked his Alfa on the pitstraight with a blown engine. Verstappen and George Russell’s Mercedes pitted for tyres; Lewis Hamilton didn’t. Max had no trouble using his soft Pirellis to re-pass the seven-time champ.

3. 1962 – Hill on his way

This wasn’t a thriller, but it had great significance. Three years earlier, Jo Bonnier had claimed BRM’s first grand prix victory at Zandvoort; in ’62, BRM’s Graham Hill, above, won F1’s opening round among the dunes to take his maiden success. He had spent the first 11 laps pursuing Jim Clark but the Lotus’s clutch was failing and Hill went ahead. Despite a cracked exhaust, it was a cruise to the finish ahead of Trevor Taylor’s Lotus. Hill had laid the foundations for his first world title.

2. 1979 – Gilles’s banger

With apologies to Jacky Ickx and Niki Lauda… The Belgian’s wet-weather masterclass of 1971 and the Austrian’s defeat of Jacques Laffite in the ’77 thriller are overshadowed in Zandvoort ’70s Ferrari folklore by Gilles Villeneuve’s antics in ’79. After passing eventual winner Alan Jones’s Williams around the outside at Tarzan on lap 11, Villeneuve led for 37 laps until a spin caused by a puncture. Then the tyre burst. Cue Villeneuve blazing a full lap to the pits, wrecking the suspension, above.

1. 1975 – Hesketh on top

Niki Lauda had taken victory for Ferrari at Zandvoort in 1974, and 12 months later he led a Prancing Horse lockout of the front row, with Clay Regazzoni alongside. Who could stop a walkover? Sure enough, Lauda led the early stages on a damp track, but soon the rain stopped. James Hunt, above, read the tea leaves and pitted his Hesketh early for slick tyres. Lauda was in six laps later, lost time battling past Jean-Pierre Jarier’s Shadow, and only then closed on Hunt. But the Briton proved the master in lapped traffic and held on by 1.06sec for his first – and Hesketh’s only – grand prix victory. A triumph for the underdogs.