Former F1 Honcho Bernie Ecclestone Once Gave a Harsh Reality Check Surrounding Recent Hotly Debated Dutch GP Pricing Fiasco

In a recent development, FIA announced the contract extension of Zandvoort until 2025. The governing body of F1 made sure this venue gets to host the Dutch Grand Prix for the next three seasons. However, a controversy surrounding it has come up, on which former F1 honcho Bernie Ecclestone dropped a harsh reality check years back.

The then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone brought in the issue of how the municipality and city wanted to profit from the Grand Prix. In a video that dates back to 1985, “Initially we found somebody that wants to support it.”

“Maybe the government or the municipality thinks is a good idea for the amount of money it brings into the town,” Ecclestone further said. After the race in 1985, F1 bid farewell to the iconic Formula 1 venue in the Netherlands.

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Interestingly, a similar kind of fiasco has come up in 2022, as the village of Zandvoort is reportedly facing a budget surplus. Nevertheless, the pricing of the tickets is expected to go high due to the ‘fan’ tax. This has left the Dutch Grand Prix organizing committee angry.

Why Zandvoort was out of the calendar for so long?

After 1985, Zandvoort hosted its race for the first time in 2021. Even though it was supposed to host the race in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it couldn’t go on. However, why did the iconic Dutch venue lose its place in the F1 calendar for so long in between?

Answering this, Ecclestone told in an interview in 1985, “We’ve been supporting this [Zandvoort] race for five or six years, financially and I think it’s about time it stood in its own feet.” This meant that if F1 can’t flourish in the event financially, they were ready to move elsewhere.

“We can’t keep on pouring money into Holland. The reason we’re here for the last six years, supported it financially is because of the hard feelings about losing the race,” Bernie Ecclestone concluded.

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As Dutch Grand Prix returned in 2021 and was followed up in 2022, their very own Max Verstappen came out as the winner on both occasions. If things go well and these ticket pricing issues are brought under control, Zandvoort is expected to stay in the F1 calendar for a long time.