No expectations for Lammers at Zandvoort: 'Just give everything this weekend'.

This weekend the Dutch Grand Prix is back on the schedule for the first time in 36 years. Prior to that it was quite a challenge to get the race on the F1 calendar and eventually they had to wait another year in Zandvoort because of the coronavirus. Sporting director Jan Lammers is looking forward to the race in the dunes.

Speaking to GPblog, Lammers explains which day he is most looking forward to. "Funnily enough, I'm looking forward to 6 September the most and hoping that people are just happy, that we can look back on a great event that we can and should all be proud of."

A Grand Prix without maximum capacity

As mentioned earlier, the Dutch Grand Prix was initially scheduled for May 2020, but in the end that race was cancelled altogether. Lammers now hopes to successfully catch up with the race. "We hope that globally we can satisfy as many people as possible with what we have managed to create out of this difficult situation. The postponement last year, after 36 years putting on an event like this. It's a lot of work. You get all the uncertainties thrown at you and then you're also told that you're only allowed to host the event with two-thirds of the capacity."

A few weeks before the start of the race weekend, the Dutch government announced that the Grand Prix may go ahead, but with a limited capacity. A third of the ticket holders had to be disappointed. "You just have the total cost, but not the total revenue. Some people seem to forget that we do not get any government support, because we still hear people saying that we get a subsidy and that is not the case at all. So that blow came pretty hard."

Into the weekend without expectations

Despite this, they have managed to keep their finances in order and so there are no worries at the start of the race weekend. Lammers doesn't have any real expectations either, he explains. "No, I don't really have any expectations. You often get disappointments because you have expectations. The only thing we expect from ourselves is to do our best to make everyone happy."

"That's obviously what you want to do as an event. You can't set expectations for this weekend. We have to give everything this weekend, just like the guys behind the wheel and only when the flag falls can we slow down," Lammers concluded.