Tilke: Assen better track for Dutch F1 GP
F1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke thinks Assen would have been a better venue for the 2020 Dutch GP.
Zandvoort will be a 100,000 spectator sellout next May, but race organisers have said they could actually have sold a million tickets in light of Max Verstappen's popularity.
The circuit is also having to upgrade its infrastructure and put in new roads, with environmental groups already commencing legal action to stop the work.
Tilke, who penned most of the new circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, thinks the MotoGP circuit Assen would have been a better Dutch GP venue.
"You can get 180,000 spectators in there, and when there are that many people, the atmosphere is automatically good," he told Auto Motor und Sport.
"Assen has the better infrastructure and access."
Tilke clarified that he is not involved at all in Zandvoort's preparations for F1.
"We work with Assen, which is why we are out of the question for Zandvoort," he said.
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Sounds like he wasn't asked to do them
Sometimes es compromise is best. Rather than risk not being able to hold the GP dude to "environmental con ferns", why not just use Assen (a great track) as a start, then maybe try to sort out Zandvoort's difficulties/concerns without the rush and/or panic to fix things at the last minute. We all know how that usually turns out. Better ton use something without the problems than to keep trying to fix something that might take many more mon the of court work to solve — if ever. Zandvoort was great back-in-the-day, but Assen is already up to date and can take double the crowd size because it is within easy access to a greater amount of the population. I'm sure the Dutch really want a GP without too many hitches and know they can pull it off with the right venue. Zandvoort is just not that place at this time...