Plans for racing at Zandvoort existed before the Second World War, and the first street race was held on 3 June 1939. The permanent circuit was not built until after the war, making use of communications roads constructed by the occupying German army. The track's layout was partly determined by these existing roads, with S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis — winner of the 1927 Le Mans 24 Hours — brought in as a track design advisor in July 1946. John Hugenholtz, often credited with the circuit's design, was in fact involved as chairman of the Nederlandse Automobiel Ren Club and later became the first track director in 1949, but is not the originator of the layout.
The first race on the circuit, the Prijs van Zandvoort, took place on 7 August 1948. The event was renamed the Grote Prijs van Zandvoort in 1949 and the Grote Prijs van Nederland in 1950. The 1952 Dutch Grand Prix was the first to count as a World Championship round, run under Formula Two regulations as were all European championship rounds that year; a similar situation applied in 1953. The race was absent in 1954, 1956, and 1957, with 1955 producing the first genuine Formula One championship round. From 1958 the Dutch Grand Prix was a permanent feature of the Formula One calendar — with the sole exception of 1972 — through its final 20th-century edition in 1985.
The track developed a strong character through its fast, sweeping corners set among the North Sea dunes. The Scheivlak complex drew particular attention for its high-speed demands. The most celebrated corner is the Tarzanbocht — the Tarzan hairpin — at the end of the start/finish straight. Its distinct camber creates overtaking opportunities both around the outside and on the conventional inside line; the corner's name is reputedly derived from a local resident who agreed to surrender his dune vegetable garden to the circuit's designers on the condition that a nearby corner bear his nickname.
Layout dimensions evolved over the decades: 4.193 km from 1948 to 1971, 4.226 km from 1972 to 1979, and 4.252 km from 1980 to 1989.
By the mid-1980s the circuit faced insurmountable problems, primarily noise complaints from residents living adjacent to its southern sections. A plan to relocate the southern section of the track away from the housing estate was approved by the Provincial Council of North Holland in January 1987. Within months the commercial operator, CENAV, went into receivership, ending the existence of Circuit Zandvoort as an entity. The municipality, which owned the land, faced losing the circuit entirely; a new foundation, the Stichting Exploitatie Circuit Park, was formed and in the summer of 1989 remodelled the track to an interim Club Circuit of 2.526 km, with the vacated southern area redeveloped for housing and recreation. The reborn venue traded under the name Circuit Park Zandvoort.
In 1995 the circuit received A Status government classification, enabling construction of a full international Grand Prix circuit. The rebuild was completed in 2001, producing a 4.307 km layout with a new pit building — designed by HPG, the firm of John Hugenholtz Jr. — and a new grandstand on the main straight. This configuration hosted the Masters of Formula 3 (originally the Marlboro Masters), DTM, and A1 Grand Prix among other international events in the years that followed.
In November 2018 Formula One Management invited Zandvoort's owners to propose hosting a Grand Prix. A letter of intent was signed in March 2019, and on 14 May 2019 it was confirmed that Zandvoort would host the Dutch Grand Prix from 2020 onwards for at least three years with options beyond. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. F1 returned on 5 September 2021, with the Dutch Grand Prix reinstated on the calendar. Designer Jarno Zaffelli oversaw modifications to bring the circuit to current F1 standards, most notably adding banked corners at Turn 3 (Hugenholtzbocht, 19-degree bank) and Turn 14 (Arie Luyendijkbocht, 18-degree bank); the overall layout remained otherwise unchanged. The municipality of Zandvoort invested four million euros in surrounding infrastructure improvements. The circuit's Formula One partnership was scheduled to conclude after 2026. The official lap record for the current layout is 1:11.097, set by Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes in the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix; the fastest qualifying time at the circuit is 1:08.662, set by Oscar Piastri for McLaren during the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.
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