{"id":13709,"date":"2025-07-22T15:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13709\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T15:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:32:07","slug":"beloved-circuit-takes-aim-at-fake-news-after-worrying-online-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13709\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved circuit takes aim at &#8216;fake news&#8217; after worrying online rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Circuit Zandvoort has issued a statement to shut down reports of damage to the circuit as \u201cfake news\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Track officials have apparently completed a thorough examination of the track after it was claimed that exceptionally heavy rain had triggered severe damage, with a video appearing online perpetrating to show a huge crack in the circuit<\/p>\n<p>Is Circuit Zandvoort truly damaged?<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch coastal town of Zandvoort was hit by torrential downpours on Tuesday, with online rumours suggesting that Circuit Zandvoort \u2013 home of the Dutch Grand Prix \u2013 had been damaged as a result.<\/p>\n<p>In the below video and image, a huge split in the track is shown to have formed heading into the final corner.<\/p>\n<p>Ondertussen op het F1 Circuit van Zandvoort<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MaxVerstappen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#MaxVerstappen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Redbull?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Redbull<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/McLaren?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#McLaren<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ToMhPj7vQd\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/ToMhPj7vQd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jef (@rallyjef3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rallyjef3\/status\/1947573350210937098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, the venue has brushed this off as \u201cfake news\u201d, insisting that the track has not been damaged.<\/p>\n<p>Further, it was claimed that the all-female F1 Academy series has been in testing action at the venue.<\/p>\n<p>In a social media response to the rumours, Circuit Zandvoort wrote: \u201cTrack update: Yesterday\u2019s heavy rain sparked some fake news about damage to the circuit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarly this morning our team inspected the entire layout and found no damage, no delays.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe surface is dry, clean, and 100 per cent race-ready.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, since this morning, the F1 Academy has been out on track for their scheduled practice sessions without any issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll sessions are running exactly as planned. See you at the circuit!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More on F1 circuits from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/f1-circuit-contract-expiry-dates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 circuit contracts: What is the current contract status of every track?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/features\/fia-grade-1-circuits-unused-f1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Revealed: The 19 FIA Grade 1 circuits not currently used by Formula 1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Formula 1 will be hoping that Circuit Zandvoort is indeed in full health, as the Dutch Grand Prix is due to take place there in a little over a month.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 Dutch Grand Prix will be the penultimate staging of the event, as it has been confirmed that Zandvoort will drop off the calendar after F1 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were several options on the table to continue. We could rotate with other circuits, there were also options to continue annually,\u201d the event\u2019s director Robert van Overdijk said of the news when speaking with NOS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe made a lot of considerations and this is the outcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the end, it is only our choice. Maybe the F1 top brass is surprised, but they certainly respect and understand us. They know how we have to work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou might say: if it\u2019s successful, you just keep going, right? But it\u2019s a message from strength. We are going out with a bang. Of course it also gives a wistful feeling, but most of all we are proud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2026, we will close an iconic era in Dutch sports history. Max Verstappen has of course been the big trigger in that. As far as I am concerned, the greatest Dutch sports hero ever.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s especially enjoy that there are two more race weekends coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch Grand Prix has become quite the spectacle as Verstappen\u2019s \u2018Orange Army\u2019 pack out the grandstands, though the four-time World Champion was cost the chance to go undefeated at the event when Lando Norris took the chequered flag in 2024, ending Verstappen\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n<p>Read next: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/features\/max-verstappen-non-f1-win-circuits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The seven F1 race tracks Max Verstappen has never won at<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Circuit Zandvoort has issued a statement to shut down reports of damage to the circuit as \u201cfake news\u201d.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,15263,817,813,816,818,44,85,13852],"class_list":{"0":"post-13709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dutch-grand-prix","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}