F1 Event Guide – Round 14 Netherlands
Formula One will roar back from the summer break in a big way as the famous seaside Zandvoort circuit turns into one giant party for the orange army celebrating the success of Max Verstappen.
There may be an even greater reason for the fans to dance in the stands as Verstappen hopes to use his home race as a platform to take another step into history.
If the flying Dutchman wins again, the #1 Red Bull will score a ninth straight Grand Prix win.
Download the full F1 Dutch Grand Prix event guide HERE with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.
This would equal the record of successive Grand Prix wins by another driver who once steered the #1 Red Bull in Sebastian Vettel, who achieved the feat from Belgium to Abu Dhabi in 2013.
Whilst some may be asking when Verstappen can be stopped, the question should be will he ever be stopped?
With the stands painted in jumping and jovial orange army members, Zandvoort is the focal point of the power of Verstappen in similar style to when the Hockenheim and Nurburgring were chockablock with Michael Schumacher fans.
Since the Dutch Grand Prix returned after 36 years with a completely different circuit in 2021, the home hero has been undefeated.
Despite Mercedes throwing up a fight last year, Verstappen has always prevailed and it appears only a rare mechanical drama will stop him from taking a hat-trick.
The fight for second will be intriguing after the summer break where the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin will aim to pick up the momentum.
Underdog Aston Martin had the initial pace before briefly Ferrari and then more emphatically Mercedes.
But since Austria McLaren has transformed itself from back marker to podium contender.
Whilst established Brit Lando Norris impressed at Austria and Britain, it was young Aussie Oscar Piastri who stole the headlines at Spa.
In tricky conditions Piastri led the Sprint before finishing only behind Verstappen and the rookie will be looking to continue to impress.
But last year McLaren struggled to get Dutch points as both Ferrari and Mercedes took the fight to Red Bull at Zandvoort.
Hamilton led with 11 laps to go, but was overhauled by Verstappen who was on fresh tyres after a late-race restart. His teammate George Russell finished second just 4s away ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Daniel Ricciardo enjoys a nice opportunity to be fully prepared for a race weekend after getting time to adjust to his new surroundings over the summer break and will be chasing points after Yuki Tsunoda returned to the top 10 in Belgium.
He and the field will be tackling Zandvoort which is one of the most distinguishable tracks on the calendar.
Its history goes all the way back to 1952 when Alberto Ascari won the first Dutch Grand Prix in a Ferrari.
Then the track was a wildly fast blast through the sand dunes and the original 4.1km layout remained until 1985.
Over the following 36 F1 less years Zandvoort received a significant rework.
Whilst the first eight corners remained, the track cut right after Scheivial to a much tighter and twistier section.
However, its old character remains and the addition of 18 degree banking, plus the wild fans make it a race not to miss, even if it will probably be another Verstappen procession.
Download the full F1 Dutch Grand Prix event guide HERE with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.
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