Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix Gathering Steam

Top Formula 1 officials will journey to Assen in the coming weeks. This in response to the latest rounds of talks about hosting a Dutch Grand Prix at the venue.

Lee van Dam, CEO of the Dutch GP foundation, spoke to Liberty bosses at Hockenheim last weekend to discuss progress.

“We had a good meeting”, van Dam said. “It was all very positive. In two or three weeks’ time they will come to Assen to take a look at the track.”

The FOM’s visit purely involves an inspection of the Circuit TT Assen as well as its facilities. This is after race director Charlie Whiting approved of the circuit on the FIA’s behalf.

According to Whiting, only a few minor modifications the circuit was needed to stand a chance of hosting an F1 race.

“Whiting visited the TT Circuit on behalf of the FIA, and now FOM is going to look whether Assen can be a suitable place for Formula 1,” said van Dam. “They will soon send their technical people, who will take a look at the whole picture: the track and the facilities.”

FOM representatives even paid a surprise visit to the Dutch MotoGP round at the circuit earlier this year.

However, top MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo hope that Formula 1 won’t add Assen to its calendar. This is largely due to the impact on the track surface and layout.

“I hope they don’t come because F1 have a lot of tracks that they use just for the cars, like Le Castellet [Paul Ricard] last week, and here Assen is just for motorcycles historically,” said Rossi. “First of all, it would be a particular track for the F1 – but better not have F1 for us because you have less bumps, and I think for the historic side is better that just MotoGP races here.”

F1 and MotoGP already share 4 circuits, namely the Circuit de Catalunya, Silverstone, the Red Bull Ring and COTA.