Coronel: "Just postpone Zandvoort for a year"

Today is the day that after years of waiting we would finally see another Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort. Unfortunately the corona crisis threw a spanner in the works and now it looks like we either won't see a race at all this season or a race without an audience.

Dutch driver and pundit Tom Coronel is fiercely against a race on Dutch soil without an audience. "If you are the director of a thriller on this new circuit, well, these would have been the Verstappen-conditions", says Coronel in conversation with Motorsport.com in view of the uncertainty of the weather forecast.

Coronel would rather see the race at Zandvoort postponed for a year. "No, just really no: don't race there without an audience", says the WTCR driver. "Zandvoort is carried by the public, so postpone it for a year."

"Zandvoort is everything: the hype, the feeling, a GP that sells out within an hour and a half", Coronel continues. "That's Zandvoort for me. The whole festival and Verstappen-event in Zandvoort just has to be with an audience. Then you get that nice atmosphere and the passion splashes off."

For Prince Bernhard who owns the circuit, Coronel has a special appeal: "Don't do it! Zandvoort, please. Bernhard and all the clever people who have to calculate it: don't do it without an audience."