Formula 1’s return to the Netherlands is slated to end after 2026, ending a five-year stint. The world championship’s departure from Zandvoort also meant the loss of two steeply-banked corners–a rarity in Grand Prix racing. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, international motorsport’s governing body, won’t formally approve racing circuits with banked turns unless they meet a narrow criteria for an exemption. While the higher speeds allowed by banking excite both drivers and fans, the feature has been deemed too unsafe for top-level competition since 1969.
The age-old saying that “safety regulations are written in blood” doubly applies to racing. The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy, the most well-known banked circuit outside the United States, was the site of multiple fatal incidents in FIA-sanctioned competition during the 1960s that forced the organization to reconsider its policy on circuit design. F1 stopped using Monza’s 6.2-mile combined road-oval course after the death of Ferrari driver Wolfgang von Tripps on the second lap of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix.
Banked turns aren’t allowed, but there are exemptions
Von Tripps’ fatal incident didn’t happen on Monza’s near 40° progressive banking, but the mechanical strain that the sustained high speeds put on the cars was deemed too dangerous. The FIA World Sportscar Championship would continue to use the 6.2-mile loop for the Monza 1000km with added chicanes and improved barriers, but endurance racing would follow F1 to the current circuit after the 1969 edition. The prohibition on banked corners remains codified in Appendix O of the FIA’s International Sporting Code:
“In curves, the banking (downwards from the outside to the inside of the track) should not exceed 10% (5.7°) (with possible exceptions in special cases, such as speedways or oval tracks). An adverse incline is not generally acceptable unless dictated by special circumstances.”
While this regulation has a clear exemption for American ovals, it is precisely why Germany’s Lausitzring oval featured 5.7° banking when the facility was built in 1998. Circuit design has gotten more adventurous since then. Zandvoort decided to remodel Turns 3 and 14 to create more passing opportunities for F1’s return to the narrow, twisting circuit in 2021. The final corner, coincidentally named after two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, was redesigned with 32° banking to allow F1 cars to drive flat-out through the turn safely. While F1 is dropping its annual visits to the Dutch dunes, banked corners aren’t going extinct again. The Madring, a 3.4-mile street circuit in Madrid, will feature a bullring-like banked turn when it becomes the home of the Spanish Grand Prix next year.
