Formula 1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli has raised concerns over plans to bank the final corner at Zandvoort ahead of the sport’s return to the track.

The Dutch Grand Prix will return to the schedule for the 2020 F1 season , 35 years since the world championship last visited Zandvoort. Plans to revise the circuit to make it suitable for modern cars include banking the final corner, Arie Luyendijkbocht, by as much as 18 degrees.

Steeply banked corners are rare in Formula 1. An 18-degree banking would be steeper than the 9.2 degree banking at Indianapolis Motors Speedway, where F1 suffered a spate of tyre failures in 2005, which led to just six cars starting the race.

Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola told RaceFans making tyres suitable for use on such a banked corner would be “technically a big challenge” and he would “prefer not to have banking”.

“There is an evaluation at the moment about what it means because obviously there is a much higher stress on the tyres that will oblige us to raise the minimum pressure to resist this high stress on the tyre,” he explained.

Minimum tyre pressures would have to be increased in order to cope with the banking, said Isola. “The problem is that the pressure in that case will be too high for the rest of the circuit.

“So the teams have to find a balance between the banking or the infield part of the circuit that is without banking. It’s not easy.”

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In order to glean relevant information about racing on a steep banking, Pirelli is studying data from its participation in races on tracks outside Formula 1, including the Daytona International Speedway which is banked at up to 31 degrees in places.

Dromo, who are designing the modifications to Zandvoort, were approached for a comment. The company previously handled the re-profiling of Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit in 2016.

Dutch Grand Prix sporting director and ex-F1 driver Jan Lammers said the reason for banking the final corner was to allow drivers to take it flat-out with DRS open, increasing the potential for overtaking at a track where several drivers have predicted it will be very difficult. The banking would also reduce the amount of run-off needed at the corner.

The banking may not be added until 2021, the second year of F1’s deal to return to the circuit. This would coincide with the sport’s switch to a new 18-inch wheel format.

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2020 F1 season