Tales from the Zandvoort paddock

• Super rookie: Tim Zimmermann upsets the incumbents
• Just like in Formula 1: Formel ADAC has team radios
• Formel ADAC graduates impress at F1 weekend

Zandvoort - Formel ADAC lined up on the weekend of 9th to 11th May at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands for the first of three race weekends to be held outside of Germany this season. More than 3,000 spectators watched the three races of the ADAC High Speed Academy during the ADAC GT Masters weekend.

Zimmermann on top: "It's incredible - amazing - words fail me - just unbelievable." Those were the reactions of rookie Tim Zimmermann on achieving four podiums in the first six races of the season, making the Neuhauser driver the best rookie so far in 2014 and the only one to have secured a podium to date in the current Formel ADAC season. The first two race weekends at Oschersleben and Zandvoort may have produced a number of different winners, but there is one thing that has remained constant: All the remaining podium places went to drivers who were already in their second Formel ADAC season.

Helpful chap in your ear: The latest innovation in Formel ADAC: Team radios. Since the start of this season, drivers have been able to communicate with their teams via radio during races. This has already paid off, especially in the three races at Zandvoort, where there were numerous interruptions due to the difficult weather conditions. "I had to get used to the team radio, but it has really helped me, especially when things got quite complicated," said rookie Igor Walilko, who finished in the points twice in the Netherlands.

From a broader perspective: This past weekend, many former Formel ADAC drivers put their skills to the test for the first time at the Formula 1 weekend in Barcelona. 2012 champion Marvin Kirchhöfer made his debut in the GP3 series and impressed with second place in qualifying and two fifth places. Also in the GP3 line-up: Beitske Visser, the most successful female driver in the history of Formel ADAC. Sven Müller, third overall in the Formel ADAC back in 2011, made his debut in the Porsche Supercup and drove straight into the Top Ten.

Freak weather twixt dunes: The weather had many challenges in store for the Formel ADAC drivers in Zandvoort. The sky which had been blue to start with would turn black and the heavens open just in time for qualifying and the races. Zandvoort witnessed the full range of weather conditions from rain and hail to squally winds. Tim Zimmermann was best equipped for the weather. The Neuhauser driver had a small blue duck with him - the rookie's new lucky charm. This floating 'friend' was probably just the ticket for the wet weekend in the Netherlands, as Zimmermann achieved two podiums.