Pirelli brings hardest tyre compounds to Zandvoort to 'fight' final corner's embankment

Formula 1 heads into the second of three consecutive race weekends after its summer break. Following Max Verstappen's astounding win around Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the F1 circus heads to the Netherlands for the Red Bull driver's home race.

Pirelli also confirmed the tyre allocation for the race, bringing its three hardest compounds to the Zandvoort circuit: the C1 hard tyre (x2 sets), the C2 medium tyre (x3), and the C3 soft tyre (x8). This trio of tyres were last seen at the British Grand Prix.

The reason for bringing the hardest tyre compounds to the Dutch GP is attributed to the track's steep embankments at Turns 3 and 14. F1 cars tackle these corners at high speeds, which puts tremendous force and stress on the tyres.

"Zandvoort proved to be a spectacular addition to the calendar last year, and the most challenging parts for tyres are the banked Turns 3 and 14, which are taken at high speed and place sustained combined forces on the car: downforce as well as lateral demands," said Pirelli's Motorsport Director Mario Isola.

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Zandvoort is steep

Zandvoort's final corner, Turn 14, is the steepest on the F1 calendar. The turn's embankment is angled at 32%, translating to 18 degrees. For reference, the Indianapolis circuit's highest embankment is nine degrees.

Robert van Overdijk, Zandvoort CEO, said: "That corner (Turn 14) will for sure be the most spectacular part of our circuit. The corner [is] banked 32%. So the difference in height from the bottom of the corner to the top will be around four and a half metres. That's considerable.

"We are, in fact, making an American corner on an otherwise European circuit. That is