The Zandvoort lesson that F1 should pay attention to

With Zandvoort chiefs planning to withhold track data from F1 teams in order to make the racing more unpredictable, Jonathan Noble argues more circuits should be paying attention to the Dutch venue

Jonathan Noble Jan 23, 2020, 1:06 PM

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Zandvoort's decision to deliberately not offer up all its track data to Formula 1 teams, in a bid to hamper their head start in preparations for the Dutch Grand Prix, will have certainly divided opinion depending on which side of the pitwall you sit.

For race organisers and fans, the hope is that the limited flow of information to teams will put them a little on the backfoot as they head to the race in May. This will hopefully mean more track action on Friday and the potential for a shake up in the order.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.