ADAC Formula 4 Zandvoort: Niklas Krütten’s fighting spirit salvages challenging weekend

Set amid the North Sea dunes, Zandvoort is one of those tracks where the driver can actually make a difference. The circuit is technically demanding: blind corners, gradients, sand on the track and gusting wind make each lap a real challenge. Van Amersfoort Racing driver Niklas Krütten rose to that challenge on the fourth weekend of the 2019 ADAC Formula 4, and the proof of that is in the result: the teenager from Trier finished all three races in the Top Ten, despite starting two of them from the rear of the grid. Krütten secured a P8, a P9 and a P4, and now ranks fourth in the drivers’ championship.

On his Zandvoort track debut, the 16-year-old excelled in terms of consistency and speed. He showed promising pace in free practice but then suffered a stroke of bad luck in the first qualifying session. On a flying lap, he had to do some fast thinking to avoid a stationary car on a blind corner. Although his quick reactions prevented a collision, he still came off worse from the incident, because a detour into the gravel caused such severe damage to his own car that he had to miss out on the rest of the first session and was unable to set a decent time in the second.

In the races, however, Krütten managed to turn the situation around. He gained ten places in the first of the three, nine in the second and five in the third. On a weekend of adverse weather and tricky track conditions, Krütten handled his first outing on the 4.3km circuit set amid the Dutch North Sea dunes with aplomb.

Five questions for Niklas Krütten

After the problem you encountered in qualifying, you made up a lot of lost ground in the races and made the best of a difficult situation…
Yes, I think that’s a fair summary of the weekend. Damage limitation was definitely the common thread running through the three races. I started two of them from last on the grid and still finished in the points each time. It would be hard to do much better than that, and I at least scored a few more vital points towards the championship.

In the third race, you finished fourth. Tell us how you saw it.
I made good progress through the field, even though I didn’t get off to the best of starts on this occasion. I have to hold my hand up here. I actually reacted quickly and got off the line well, but the rev limiter cut in when I was changing from first to second gear. I lost three places as a result. Anyway, I got them back after the first turn, as some of the cars around me then went wide. I made the tyres work very hard in the early stage of the race, so I found myself struggling with rapidly decreasing grip later on. That was down to the way I was driving rather than the car itself. Consequently, I was having difficulty keeping up with the race leaders. The two safety car deployments meant that I was able to close the gap. When we had the restart on the last lap, I overtook the car in front with a really cool move. I’m very happy with this P4 finish – it made up for having had so much bad luck in qualifying.

In the first two races, you gained no fewer than 19 positions. It must have been a lot of fun rolling up the field…
Yes, it certainly was. But it’s even more fun if you start from the front of the grid and get top results. I finished eighth in the first race and ninth in the second. Unfortunately, in the second race, I was pushed into the gravel by another car, which cost me a few places. After that, I was never going to finish any higher than I did. The track itself is really great, but it’s very difficult to overtake on. For that reason, the results I got really were the maximum in the circumstances.

In qualifying, you had a stroke of bad luck. What exactly happened there?
The free practice sessions went well. We were fast, but we never had a really clear lap. Anyway, the pace was there, and we could see that we had the potential to finish in the Top Three. Then, in the first qualifying session, I had to avoid a collision with a stationary car. I ended up in the gravel and damaged my car. Unfortunately, there was no time to fix it ahead of the second qualifying session. It had been raining a lot just before the quali but dried off again during the session, so we took a gamble and went out on slicks. The gamble didn’t pay off, because the track was still too wet. Because of the damage, though, it was our only chance to pull something out of the bag.

Next weekend, you’re off to the Nürburgring, which is not only your home race but also the track where you recorded your first victory in single-seater racing…
I’m obviously looking forward to it immensely. I’ll be doing a lot of sport this week as usual and also spending a lot of time on the simulator. I just can’t wait to get stuck in. The Nürburgring is one of my favourite tracks. There are corners that require a lot of nerve, and it is not always easy to overtake. The Nürburgring itself is also really cool in terms of infrastructure. I am also looking forward to the fact that many friends, acquaintances, partners and sponsors have said they will be coming. I hope I can serve up a victory there like I did last year.