Stay informed on all the biggest stories in Formula One. Sign up here to receive the Prime Tire newsletter in your inbox every Monday and Friday morning Formula One is back in session after a lengthy summer break where drivers and the rest of the paddock recharged for the upcoming 10-race stretch that lasts until December The Dutch Grand Prix starts that stretch as the sport heads to the beachside town of Zandvoort roughly a 30-minute train ride from Amsterdam And while most grandstands feature an array of colors this race’s grandstands are a sea of orange-clad fans Track position is crucial given how the narrow Circuit Zandvoort limits overtaking opportunities Banked corners provide avenues for drivers to take different lines and battle “Undulating” is a widely-used term to describe the nature of the circuit as the ebbs flows and banking create a rollercoaster-type feel so it’s likely safe to expect a multi-stop race Precision is required as drivers navigate around the banks and gravel traps sand and dirt will drift onto the track throughout the weekend Circuit Zandvoort gives a challenging old-school vibe Qualifying is a crucial session given the limited overtaking opportunities and concentration is needed as drivers navigate fewer long straights and steep banking (some of which rival that of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) F1 went on a 36-year hiatus from Zandvoort before returning the circuit to the calendar in 2021 (the initial announcement was made for 2020 but the COVID-19 global pandemic delayed its return) The track has been modernized since its creation The first half still uses the corners from the 1948 layout but the second half (introduced in 1999) was remodeled This is one of the most famous corners at Zandvoort The wide bend gives the drivers a rare overtaking opportunity The left bend is named in honor of Wim Gerlach a Dutch driver who died following a wreck during a 1957 sportscar race Drivers take as high a line as possible through this sweeping turn to essentially create a maximum-speed slingshot looking like they will collide with the barrier This corner was named in honor of Hans Hugenholtz like part of the Hockenheimring in Germany and Suzuka This is another portion of the track named after a driver who was killed died at this turn during a touring car race in 1979 According to the circuit’s website this is “the turn where the heroes distinguish themselves from the regular drivers.” The turn is at the top of a dune hill and slopes to the right Some changes were made during the 2020 upgrade This chicane provides another overtaking opportunity to drivers as they near the end of a lap approaching it at high speeds before braking to nail the sequence The turn was added in 1989 and originally was named Nissanbocht But in recent years it became known as Hans Ernst Chicane in honor of the former circuit director The second portion of the chicane was widened allowing different racing lines to be taken This name may ring a bell for IndyCar fans — Arie Luyendyk is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Turn 14 features banking nearly twice as steep as Indianapolis at 18 degrees (32%) but not nearly as strong as the likes of the original Monza layout Drivers zip around the righthander and exit into the long straight (with DRS) (Lead image: ANP via Getty Images; Design: Drew Jordan) Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The Dutch Grand Prix takes place 29 – 31 August 2025 at Circuit Zandvoort approximately 40km (25 miles)west of Amsterdam and just 30km (19 miles) northwest of Schiphol Airport This year’s race will see Max Verstappen vying for a fourth consecutive win – giving the famous Orange Army something to go wild about once again If the Dutch Grand Prix is on your go-to list for 2025 you may already be considering the best way to make your way there we’ll explore all options for getting to the Zandvoort circuit for the Dutch GP The circuit is located in the coastal town of Zandvoort in northeast Netherlands approximately 40km (25 miles) west of Amsterdam and 11km (7 miles) west of the city of Haarlem Amsterdam’s main airport Schiphol (AMS) is located just under 30km (19 miles) southeast of Zandvoort and is closer to the circuit than the city of Amsterdam itself it is one of the largest and busiest airports in Europe with daily flights arriving from all over the world Brussels Charleroi (CRL) or Düsseldorf (DUS) are all within a few hours’ reach of Zandvoort by train there are no direct trains from the airport to Zandvoort however you can catch an Intercity train to Amsterdam-Centraal or Sloterdijk and transfer directly to Zandvoort aan Zee train station from there The whole journey should take just under an hour travelling by car is a no-no as roads to Zandvoort are closed off to cars during race weekend if you’re happy to park a little furtheout at one of the Park and Ride carparks (more about those later) then the journey should take about 30 minute along the N200 and A9 motorway By taxi – Follow signs from the main terminal to the official taxi rank in front of Schiphol Plaza There are always plenty of licensed taxis available and drivers accept cash and credit cards The fare will be approximately €65-€70 if you’re travelling on days outside of Thursday 22™ to Monday 26* August If you’re taking a taxi during race weekend you will have to specify a drop-off point outside of Zandvoort (such as one of the Park and Ride carparks) Getting to Zandvoort from Amsterdam is simple with fantastic public transport links from the capital city Just remember – buses and trains are likely to be very busy during race weekend so if you can Trains run every half hour from Amsterdam’s Central station direct to Zandvoort aan Zee station, with a more frequent service provided during race weekend. The journey lasts about 30 minutes and tickets typically cost €6.50 (£5.61). You can buy tickets at the station or online at Omio.com (official partner of national rail company NS) but it’s worth bearing in mind the roads are very flat (it is The Netherlands after all!) and extremely cycle-friendly You’ll be surprised to discover how many F1 fans will be opting for this mode of transport there are plenty of free parking bays for bikes provided for bikes about 15 minutes walk from the circuit entrance (please note: these need to be reserved in advance) There are also paid parking bays for bicycles closer to the circuit Coach – Coach services operated by Pouw Vervoer are available to pick up racegoers from a number of departure points in Amsterdam and across the Netherland§, stopping in Zandvoort at the DGP bus station on Boulevard Barnaart (about 400 metres to the circuit gates). You can find more information about coach travel on the main Dutch Grand Prix website Public bus – The number 80 bus connects Haarlem, Zandvoort, and Amsterdam while the number 385 connects Zandvoort with Leiden and Noordwiik and Zandvoort. The journey time from both Haarlem and Leiden is approx. 40 minutes and tickets can be bought online or on board the bus Pouw Vervoer has pick up points all over the Netherlands arriving in Zandvoort at about 9:00am and leaving at about 7:00pm Heads up – make sure you’re at the designated pick-up point on time The driver won’t wait for latecomers It’s a 15-minute walk to the track from the station There are plenty of signs or simply follow the Orange Army (you can’t miss them!) You can also rent a bike from the station and cycle to the circuit in about five minutes (the cycling route is the same as the walking route) You can also fly into Rotterdam from Edinburgh and London dAy Airport You catch take the Eurostar from St Pancras directly to Amsterdam Central in a journey of just four hours and prices start from as low as £57 (€66) You can then catch a high-speed train from Central to Zandvoort aan Zee For racegoers based in the north of England, there’s also the option of taking the overnight ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam Not the cheapest or quickest option by a long shot but certainly one of the most fun ways to travel to the Grand Prix and the port is just 20km (12 miles) from the track Now you’ve discovered how to get to Circuit Zandvoort, it’s time to book your tickets which are on general sale NOW! Head to our Dutch Grand Prix booking page to secure your spot The Dutch Grand Prix will depart the Formula One schedule following the 2026 season after organisers agreed a one-year extension with the series Circuit Zandvoort’s departure will be marked by a sprint weekend in 2026 as Formula One bids farewell to a fan-favourite event The track made a return to Formula One in 2021 having not hosted the series since 1985 The fervent support for local hero Max Verstappen has made the race one of the features of the calendar in recent years the circuit’s promoter has opted against continuing to host Formula One beyond the 2026 season “I am incredibly grateful for the work that the team at the Dutch Grand Prix have done in recent years,” said Stefano Domenicali president and chief executive of Formula One “They raised the bar for European Grands Prix in terms of event spectacle and entertainment supported the development of young talent by hosting F2 and have also pioneered sustainable solutions that have inspired our events around the world as we drive towards being Net Zero by 2030 “All parties positively collaborated to find a solution to extend the race including alternation or annual events on the table and we respect the decision from the promoter to finish its amazing run in 2026 “I want to thank all the team at the Dutch Grand Prix and the Municipality of Zandvoort who have been fantastic partners to Formula One.” The penultimate Dutch Grand Prix takes place from 29th to 31st August 2025 The dates for the final event will be announced next year Domenicali revealed last month there would be imminent news on rotational Grands Prix in Europe that plan had its challenges given the hefty financial impact on the applicable tracks Zandvoort would’ve been offered a rotational slot potentially with Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium – another track perennially linked with an exit It is highly unlikely that Zandvoort’s circuit promoter would’ve said no to a deal that allowed it to continue as an annual event especially while Verstappen is on the grid this could be good news for Spa as it now has less competition for a spot during the European leg of the season But the circuit’s future will depend on Formula One’s plans for global expansion with Thailand and Rwanda reportedly interested in joining the schedule Don’t miss the latest news and insights from across the business world of motorsport. Subscribe to the BlackBook Motorsport Weekly newsletter here The Haas Formula One team will not be allowed to move their trucks from the Dutch Grand Prix circuit until Monday when money owed to a Russian former sponsor has been confirmed as paid A spokesman said the trucks transporting the cars and equipment would have to wait for clearance before departing for Monza the circuit near Milan that hosts the Italian Grand Prix next weekend The payment was sent on Friday and everything would be packed up as usual on Sunday Dutch bailiffs took an inventory last Thursday after local court action to enforce a Swiss arbitral tribunal ruling made in June The U.S.-owned team's former sponsor Uralkali is due the balance of a sponsorship contract cancelled in March 2022 Media reports have valued the original contract at $13 million with $9 million due to be returned Get quick access to your favorite articles Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers Make your voice heard with article commenting Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images Time’s up for one of few remaining old-school tracks on the F1 calendar after it was announced on Wednesday that the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort would come to an end after the 2026 season. As such F1 will depart the dusty dunes of Zandvoort once again following what turned out to be just a six-year return to the historic seaside circuit a newly renovated Zandvoort returned to the F1 schedule in 2020 beating a rival bid from the historic home of the Dutch Moto GP to host the country’s first race since 1985 A real glimpse of the crowd size for the return of spectator racing at the 2021 Dutch GP 2022 was an equally simple affair for Verstappen who charged from poll to win his fourth consecutive race It was hardly an all-time classic F1 fans will look back fondly on in the years to come Dutch fans made the most of the weekend with more than 300,000 people in attendance but also a trial run in what would eventually become his permanent seat ahead of an Aston Martin at a wet Dutch GP Fast forward to 2024 and locals were in for another somewhat tedious race. Verstappen once again led the way in qualifying, before Norris went on to become the first Brit to win at the circuit since McLaren’s James Hunt in 1976 Far from the bright lights on offer at newer venues such as Las Vegas Zandvoort’s old-time charm and banked turns are ultimately not enough to save it as money continues to rain down on the sport from the pockets of celebrities around the world Following in the footsteps of the likes of other aging tracks such as Hockenheim and the Nurburgring fanatical Dutch fans have just two more years to enjoy this beloved track until their orange smoke fades into the North Sea mist for good From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport In order to keep delivering our expert journalism we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker Formula One has announced the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort will drop off the calendar after its final running in 2026 F1 returned to Zandvoort — a seaside track on the outskirts of Amsterdam the Netherlands — in 2021 to capitalize on the country’s massive swell of interest and fandom surrounding Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen However, after the race’s promoters’ recent uncertainty about continuing to host F1 in the long term it has now been confirmed that 2026 will be the last Dutch Grand Prix A one-year contract extension has been signed for the 2026 race which F1 said would “celebrate” the event and include a sprint race for the first time “We are a privately owned and operated business and we must balance the opportunities presented by continuing to host the event against other risks and responsibilities,” said Dutch Grand Prix general director Robert van Overdijk “We have decided to go out on a high with two more incredible Dutch Grands Prix in 2025 and 2026,” van Overdijk continued “We wanted to take this step while our event is adored and supported by passionate fans I want to thank Stefano Domenicali and all the team at Formula One for the hard work that has seen multiple contract extensions realized and the Dutch Grand Prix be such a success.” Zandvoort circuit breakdown: Tight turns and steep banks define F1's Dutch GP Zandvoort has widely been regarded as one of the best-run events on the F1 calendar including a focus on sustainability by making fans travel via public transport and putting on concerts and entertainment at the track to accompany the on-track action said that “all parties positively collaborated to find a solution to extend the race and we respect the decision from the promoter to finish its amazing run in 2026.” The Dutch Grand Prix’s departure comes as F1 is already planning its future calendars including date shifts for Monaco and Canada from 2026 Zandvoort’s exit means there will be a slot free on the calendar from 2027 for another event F1 will host its first race in Madrid in 2026 when the Spanish Grand Prix moves from Barcelona but officials at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya remain eager to strike a deal to stay on the schedule South Korea and Thailand have also expressed interest in hosting F1 in the future but both countries remain in the exploratory stage for any proposals Audi announce organisational restructure ahead of F1 arrival in 2026 5 Winners and 5 Losers from Miami – Who excelled in the Sunshine State Tsunoda concedes he ‘made life much more difficult’ with five-second penalty in Miami after battling for final point Antonelli taking plenty of positives from Miami weekend despite struggles on way to P6 in the Grand Prix ‘We took the tough decision’ – Vasseur defends Ferrari team orders situation in Miami as he acknowledges Hamilton’s frustration Formula 1 and the Dutch Grand Prix promoter have announced a one-year contract extension which will see Circuit Zandvoort remain on the Formula 1 calendar through the 2026 season the decision has been taken by the promoter not to remain on the calendar after 2026 The past few years have seen some great action in the Dutch Grand Prix after the sport’s long break from racing in the Netherlands READ MORE: Vasseur vows Ferrari will ‘fight until the last corner of the last lap’ for the constructors' crown in season finale The event has become known for its fan experience with Dutch fans and international visitors alike gathering to watch the excitement of Formula 1 battling around the iconic banked corners of the circuit It has also established itself as a leading sustainable sporting event pioneering technologies that are now used across the Formula 1 calendar The return of the Dutch Grand Prix in 2021 coincided with a period of dominance for local hero Max Verstappen and been crowned world champion in each of the four years the event has run to date the event will take place from August 29 to 31 which will include a Sprint for the first time at the Dutch Grand Prix Ticket sales for the 2025 race are already underway with information about tickets for the final event in 2026 to follow READ MORE: ‘This is not how I wanted things to end’ – Ocon shares emotional farewell to Alpine after ‘especially difficult’ season said: “I am incredibly grateful for the work that the team at the Dutch Grand Prix have done in recent years They raised the bar for European Grands Prix in terms of event spectacle and entertainment “All parties positively collaborated to find a solution to extend the race I want to thank all the team at the Dutch Grand Prix and the Municipality of Zandvoort who have been fantastic partners to Formula 1.” popular with Dutch fans and international visitors alike added: “The Dutch Grand Prix is the result of a unique collaboration between SportVibes who shared the ambition of bringing the race back to the Netherlands What we have achieved so far is undoubtedly a huge success “While today’s announcement signals the end of a monumental era we are confident there is plenty more for fans to look forward to at the Dutch Grand Prix in 2025 and 2026 READ MORE: ‘We have lost any sense of proportion’ – Stella's verdict on penalty that dropped Norris out of contention in Qatar and we must balance the opportunities presented by continuing to host the event We have decided to go out on a high with two more incredible Dutch Grands Prix in 2025 and 2026 while our event is adored and supported by passionate fans I want to thank Stefano Domenicali and all the team at Formula 1 for the hard work that has seen multiple contract extensions realised and the Dutch Grand Prix be such a success.” Don't miss your chance to experience the beachside Zandvoort circuit.. MIAMI LOWDOWN: All the key moments as McLaren and Antonelli shine, Ferrari face tensions and LEGO takes over MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How Leclerc and Hamilton’s opposing Miami strategies culminated in fractious Ferrari radio exchanges HIGHLIGHTS: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 after thrilling race in Miami Driveable LEGO big builds welcomed to Miami drivers’ parade Cadillac unveil their team logo and brand during dazzling Miami launch event ahead of 2026 entry Verstappen vs Norris into Turn 1 and Antonelli after redemption – What To Watch For in the Miami Grand Prix Piastri full of praise for McLaren after ‘unbelievable’ and ‘impressive’ victory in Miami OFFICIAL GRID: Wet Miami race in prospect as Gasly starts from pit lane © 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited the headline stat from the Netherlands was Lando Norris’s 23-second winning margin – the biggest of the season there were plenty of other fascinating figures thrown up by Sunday’s race in Zandvoort • This was Norris’s second career victory in Formula 1 racing • Norris is the first McLaren driver to win a Grand Prix from pole position since Lewis Hamilton at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix REPORT: Norris fights back against Verstappen to end home hero’s run of Dutch GP wins • Today’s race ends a streak of six consecutive Grands Prix not won from pole • Norris is the first driver other than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win by over 10 seconds in almost two and a half years The last was Charles Leclerc for Ferrari in Australia 2022 • It was the first McLaren win at Zandvoort since Niki Lauda’s last race win in 1985 • Norris has now exceeded his highest-ever season points total (205) with nine races still remaining but Oscar Piastri is the top scorer in the last five Grands Prix Max Verstappen missed out on joining Michael Schumacher Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel as winners in their 200th Grands Prix • It was the first time Verstappen has failed to win his home race • Verstappen has now gone five races without a win • It sees his championship lead reduced for only the fourth time all season RACE START: Watch the getaway in Zandvoort as Verstappen takes the lead from pole-sitter Norris • Leclerc was classified third for the second consecutive race • Leclerc maintains third in the drivers’ championship (he was 10 points ahead of Oscar Piastri before today) • Piastri’s P4 finish means he is the top scorer in the last five Grands Prix • He is also the only driver to complete every racing lap this season • Carlos Sainz’s P5 for Ferrari meant he finished in the top six for the sixth consecutive race though he’s only had one podium finish in that time • Sainz has always finished in the top five at Zandvoort Nico Hulkenberg missed the points by a single place Sergio Perez took his first top-six finish since Miami • Red Bull now lead McLaren by 30 points in the constructors' championship • George Russell finished in P7 for Mercedes and has only scored 11 points in four races since winning the Austrian Grand Prix (he was disqualified from victory in Belgium) • Team mate Lewis Hamilton ended a three-race streak of podium finishes with P8 READ MORE: Norris hails ‘unbelievable’ McLaren pace as he reflects on moment he knew he could beat Verstappen to Zandvoort victory Pierre Gasly matched his and Alpine’s best result of the season • Fernando Alonso finished in P10 for Aston Martin to maintain his 100 percent point-scoring record in four Dutch Grand Prix starts Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th for the sixth time this year • The top-10 drivers today are all previous race winners for the second race in a row having never previously happened once in the 74-year history of the world championship • It was the fourth race this season (after Bahrain Spain and Austria) with no classified retirements ‘We made it count when it mattered’ – Russell satisfied with recovery to podium after troublesome Miami weekend DRIVER OF THE DAY: Piastri's imperious Miami showing gets your vote STRATEGY GUIDE: What are the tactical options for the Miami Grand Prix VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 after thrilling race in Miami MIAMI LOWDOWN: All the key moments as McLaren and Antonelli shine Driveable LEGO big builds welcomed to Miami drivers’ parade Williams duo keen to 'play with strategies' as they target strong result in Miami after impressive Qualifying Cadillac unveil their team logo and brand during dazzling Miami launch event ahead of 2026 entry Can polesitter Lando Norris nail his start this time and beat Max Verstappen into Turn 1 That's the key question that will be answered after the lights go out in Zandvoort as the McLaren and Red Bull rivals again line up on the front row Norris has team mate Oscar Piastri riding shotgun behind him but no such luck for Verstappen (Sergio Perez lines up fifth) who will have Mercedes' George Russell looking to jump him from P4 on the grid while the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll fill row four with Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz completing the top 10 HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the qualifying action at Zandvoort as Norris charges to pole and Hamilton suffers Q2 exit Notably out of place is Lewis Hamilton, who qualified a disappointing P12 for Mercedes and was then dropped three places for impeding Perez There was even bigger disappointment at Williams. Alex Albon had ended Saturday a spectacular eighth, only to be disqualified for a technical infringement on his car's floor who missed qualifying after his heavy FP3 crash will start from the back after stewards granted them permission to race MUST-SEE: Massive crash for Sargeant in Zandvoort FP3 sees his upgraded Williams catch fire starting from the pit lane will be Kevin Magnussen after Haas opted to change power unit elements on his car following qualifying The 2024 Dutch Grand Prix starts at 1500 local time. Be sure to join our live coverage from 1400 here VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Norris pips Piastri in incident-filled Miami Sprint with help from late Safety Car VideoSPRINT START: Watch the rain-soaked opening lap of the Miami Sprint as Piastri snatches lead from Antonelli ‘It's not what you want to see’ – Verstappen rues pit lane incident in Miami Sprint after losing further ground to McLaren Charles Leclerc could not hide his surprise after finishing the Dutch Grand Prix on the podium in third place having started from sixth on the grid on what has been a challenging weekend for Ferrari Both Leclerc and team mate Carlos Sainz had played down the team’s prospects following difficult days on Friday and Saturday, with Leclerc especially disappointed to be one second away from pole position in qualifying READ MORE: Norris fights back against Verstappen to end home hero’s run of Dutch GP wins However, it turned out to be a much better Sunday in Zandvoort than the Scuderia had anticipated. Leclerc made a good start and took a position from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez before then pressuring Oscar Piastri in the battle for fourth Leclerc got ahead of the McLaren and crossed the line in a solid P3 a result that the Monegasque admitted he had not expected very surprised,” Leclerc explained immediately after the Grand Prix but I think with today’s race we can be extremely happy with the job we’ve done on a difficult weekend for the team Leclerc was surprised to end the Dutch Grand Prix in third place after a challenging weekend prior to the race “We’ve been struggling from Friday until the race we undercut two of our competitors and then we managed to keep them behind So a really strong race for the team – [I’m] really happy to start the second half [of the season] like this.” Leclerc added: “At the start I knew it was a big opportunity – I didn’t know that later on we would also have the pace to keep him behind But I knew that the first lap was an opportunity for us to gain one or two positions HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action from the Dutch Grand Prix as Norris beats Verstappen to victory with stunning drive but never would I have thought I would stand on the podium after such a difficult weekend for the team.” Sainz echoed Leclerc’s sentiments in terms of Ferrari’s pace being unexpected with the Spaniard recovering from his Q2 exit in Saturday’s qualifying – which saw him start from P10 having been promoted after Alex Albon’s disqualification – to end Sunday’s race in P5 I’m not going to lie,” Sainz said of the car’s performance “Our best predictions of our damage limitation today was P7 so to actually make it to P5 is better than expected Sainz: Pace a 'bit of a surprise' in strong P5 finish in Zandvoort “I would have never expected to be able to pass a Red Bull and a Mercedes at a track like this but it’s true that our pace today was really I felt very at home in the car since the laps to the grid and I at least thought that we might have a chance to make a bit of a comeback Quizzed on whether the performance almost made things more confusing for Ferrari Sainz acknowledged that the team need to try to understand their lack of consistency FACTS AND STATS: Zandvoort top ten all previous race winners – for the second race in a row! I think you need to wait until the end of the weekend to assess the whole weekend performance and it’s clear that obviously with a normal weekend [in] Q3 yesterday I should have made it P7 like Charles was,” the 29-year-old commented “And then it’s clear that our car this year seems to be better suited for the race than for qualifying and we seem to have a weakness on switching the tyres on or something about the car in quali that is not quite working because in the race it’s a much better race car “Points are given on Sundays so I’d rather have a car that allows me to attack on Sunday but we need to find the right trade-off and the right balance between quali and the race.” Alpine's Pierre Gasly topped the timings in final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix but it was a session that was heavily interrupted following a violent crash for Williams driver Logan Sargeant after damp conditions had again played their part the American ran over a kerb and dipped a wheel onto the grass exiting Turn 3 in Zandvoort His updated Williams subsequently slid across track and collided with the barriers with extensive damage and a fire the result FP3: Gasly tops final practice at Zandvoort as heavy Sargeant crash interrupts running Thankfully Sargeant was unharmed in the incident but red flags brought the session to a halt while repairs were made to the barriers and the debris was cleared With the green light not appearing until two minutes before the session ended there was a mad dash among the drivers to head back onto track it was Gasly who would post the fastest of the session Click play on the video above to watch the highlights from final practice in Zandvoort Verstappen labels Miami Grand Prix ‘a struggle’ after slipping back to P4 as he reflects on gap to McLaren Former F1 and Le Mans racer Jochen Mass passes away aged 78 The ‘important’ lessons F1 is learning from the development of sustainable fuels in F2 and F3 ahead of 2026 discos with Russell and architect dreams – Getting to know the real Kimi Antonelli 'It's impressive and exciting' – Team principals laud F1's motorsport ladder for preparing rookies F1 EXPLAINS: Ask an F1 Team Principal with Alpine boss Oliver Oakes Madrid begins construction of F1 venue as Carlos Sainz becomes circuit ambassador George Russell set the pace during Friday’s second free practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix leading the way from McLaren rival Oscar Piastri and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton at Zandvoort drier conditions for the start of FP2 at 1600 local time albeit with gusts of wind still blowing in over the sand dunes and adding to the challenge around the tight FP1: Norris heads Verstappen and Hamilton amid mixed conditions during first practice in Zandvoort The changing winds appeared to play their part in a flurry of early scares including Russell’s “strange” lock-up and trip through the gravel trap at Turn 8 another for the under-pressure Sergio Perez at Turn 1 and a snap for Max Verstappen through the high-speed Turn 7 with outgoing Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg losing the rear of his updated car under braking for Turn 1 sliding across the gravel and thumping the wall – causing damage to the right-hand side and bringing out the red flags When the session resumed with around 40 minutes left on the clock plenty of drivers took the opportunity to bolt on Pirelli’s soft rubber and pump in some qualifying-style laps initially bringing a 1m 10.986s from Verstappen and a 1m 10.961s from Lando Norris Piastri and his recovered ribs then lowered the benchmark further on a 1m 10.763s before Mercedes made their move to go P1 with Russell (1m 10.702s) and P3 with Hamilton – the top-five drivers covered by just over two-and-a-half tenths of a second MUST-SEE: Join Norris for a lap of Zandvoort with F1’s spectacular gyro cam Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was ‘best of the rest’ in sixth followed by the RB of Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen who enjoyed a much more productive session than sidelined team mate Hulkenberg as the sole Ferrari driver for most of the session due to Carlos Sainz hitting gearbox trouble while the latter’s future team mate at Williams completed the top-10 positions over the other Aston of Lance Stroll Aiming to get his season back on track after a challenging run, Perez trailed team mate Verstappen by six-tenths in 12th, followed by the other RB of Daniel Ricciardo and the lead Alpine of Pierre Gasly, whose team mate for 2025 has now been confirmed as Jack Doohan Fans watching in the grandstands and on the banks around the track were treated to another busy session while the Kick Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas – the latter back in the cockpit after Ferrari reserve driver Robert Shwartzman appeared in FP1 – sandwiched Esteban Ocon in the second of the Alpine machines Limited to just seven and 10 laps respectively and having been unable to post any times on the soft rubber Sainz and Hulkenberg ended the afternoon at the foot of the order in P19 and P20 with mechanics now focused on getting their cars ready for FP3 ANALYSIS: Why Alpine have opted for youth in signing Doohan as their rebuild phase gears up the stewards will be looking into two potential unsafe releases in the pit lane with replays showing Zhou being sent out into Ricciardo’s path as well as Albon and Stroll almost banging wheels Drivers and teams will have a chance to go through the data and make any adjustments ahead of Saturday morning’s third and final practice session which is set to get under way at 1130 local time – followed by the all-important qualifying hour at 1500 ‘It's all about patience’ – Bortoleto admits transition from F2 title winner to F1 backmarker is ‘not easy’ Horner hails ‘most competitive race to date’ for Red Bull as he insists 'we were quicker' than McLaren in Jeddah ‘I need to chill out’ – Norris opens up on early-season mindset as he admits to putting ‘too much pressure on myself’ Bayer admits Lawson left ‘sad and puzzled' by Red Bull seat swap as he predicts New Zealand driver 'will be back and he will be quick' ‘I’m 2000% behind him’ – Vasseur backs Hamilton amid early Ferrari struggles as he insists ‘potential is there’ MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How Leclerc and Hamilton’s opposing Miami strategies culminated in fractious Ferrari radio exchanges Red Bull's protest into Russell over yellow flags rejected by Miami stewards Alpine’s Pierre Gasly led Haas rival Kevin Magnussen and Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas during third and final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix – with a heavy crash for outgoing Williams driver Logan Sargeant severely interrupting the action and mixing up the order twisty Zandvoort Circuit for the start of FP3 at 1130 local time though the variable gusts of wind experienced throughout the first and second practice sessions had at least come down a notch PRACTICE DEBRIEF: Three teams appear to be in the mix at Zandvoort – but who’s favourite for pole and victory? The sodden track meant wet tyres were in order when the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane with Nico Hulkenberg – keen to bounce back from his Friday practice crash – and Haas team mate Magnussen the first drivers to hit the track Oscar Piastri broke the trend by running intermediate rubber with footage showing the Australian slipping and sliding his way around as he got the timesheets rolling on a 1m 24.176s – almost 15 seconds slower than the dry FP2 benchmark Hulkenberg suffered another unusual moment under braking that sent the German straight into the barriers at Turn 11 “It’s again the same as yesterday,” he lamented over the radio Having returned to the pits with a damaged front wing Hulkenberg was noted by the stewards for driving his car in an unsafe condition while offs for Magnussen and George Russell at Turn 1 and a trip through the gravel for Fernando Alonso More drama followed when Sargeant ran over the kerb and dipped a wheel on the grass exiting Turn 3 sent it sliding across the track and led to a violent impact with the barriers – bringing out the red flag in the process READ MORE: Horner insists Red Bull ‘trying our hardest’ to give Perez chance to rediscover form as he backs line-up decision marshals got to work on removing the American’s car from the track clearing away all the debris and tending to the barriers and Williams mechanics prepared themselves for significant pre-qualifying repairs of their own Alonso had moved to the top of the times just before Sargeant’s crash clocking a 1m 21.461s on intermediates to slot in front of Piastri Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll and Magnussen but the drivers had to wait to make any further improvements as marshals carried out their work A huge effort from all involved meant the session could be resumed at 1228 local time which triggered a rush of activity in the pit lane as drivers and teams headed back out on track to get some late running in amid slightly brighter conditions 2024 Dutch GP: Sargeant crashes heavily into the barriers at turn 4 it was Gasly who ended up with the fastest time by getting down to a 1m 20.311s followed by Magnussen on a 1m 20.450s and Bottas on a 1m 21.155s – all drivers running intermediates while Carlos Sainz completed the top-10 after his gearbox issue on Friday F1 EXPLAINS: Injury recovery, sleep strategy and fun training – How F1 teams stay fit and ready to race with Mercedes pair Russell and Lewis Hamilton sandwiching Alex Albon’s Williams in P13 to P15 Max Verstappen was noted for failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions after appearing to run over the white line at the pit exit in the late dash as the home hero placed 17th over RB pair Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez – the latter two not posting times Drivers and teams will now have a short break to go through the data and make any final adjustments before the afternoon’s all-important qualifying session which is set to get under way at 1500 local time VideoWATCH: Ride onboard with Verstappen for his mighty pole lap in Miami Antonelli eager to ‘be ready for anything’ as he secures P3 in Qualifying after frustrating Miami Sprint outing Lewis Hamilton was left questioning what could have been after a recovery drive to P8 in the Dutch Grand Prix with the seven-time world champion suggesting that a top five result would have been possible had he had a better qualifying while George Russell admitted his surprise at Mercedes’ drop-off in pace It was a tough Saturday for Hamilton in Zandvoort, the Briton having exited qualifying in Q2 before then receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez in Q1 This dropped him down to a starting position of P15 which subsequently became P14 following Alex Albon’s disqualification From there Hamilton managed to work his way through the field and he eventually crossed the line in eighth place Asked afterwards if he was pleased with what he had managed to recover I mean it felt like I did a lot but I didn’t really get that far Hamilton: ' I felt like I did more than my result shows' I think if I’d qualified where I should have qualified Pushed further on whether the visit to Zandvoort had been an off weekend for the Silver Arrows – given their strong run across recent races – Hamilton explained: “[It was] partly me READ MORE: Antonelli to make F1 weekend debut at Monza as Mercedes confirm FP1 outing for junior star “The car really didn’t feel as strong as the last race – we need to look into that Russell ended the race one position ahead of his team mate in seventh leaving the British driver disappointed after starting from P4 Russell was surprised by his lack of pace during the Dutch Grand Prix really don’t know where that disappeared to,” he reflected later on Saturday was reasonable and looked on course for sort of a comfortable fourth or third prior to the race and suddenly [we] just went backwards and I don’t really know what happened.” Quizzed on how much the result had hurt following on from Mercedes’ positive momentum of late First off weekend for us since the upgrades but I’m not too concerned – if you take the last seven races “We’ve been ahead of Ferrari in all of them and suddenly today they looked really competitive We need to understand what happened as until today we looked on course for a pretty half-decent weekend it all went away from us and I don’t know what happened.” Stella ‘surprised’ by McLaren advantage after 1-2 in Miami as he hails particular area of engineering 'excellence' Albon delighted with fifth in Miami as Sainz admits frustrations over inability to score 'bigger' points for Williams Logan Sargeant brought out the red flags in Free Practice 3 for the Dutch Grand Prix with a huge crash into the barriers at Turn 4 with the impact seeing his Williams FW46 catch fire – although the American driver was fortunately unharmed in the accident Sargeant came into the Dutch Grand Prix weekend with a cloud hanging over him, after finding out that he would be replaced at Williams by Carlos Sainz for 2025 LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the action from final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix But his mood wouldn’t have been improved after he appeared to run onto the grass at the exit of Zandvoort’s Turn 3 in damp conditions spinning his Williams into the barriers – a doubly painful impact for the team given that the car was sporting a host of upgraded parts “I’m okay,” Sargeant thankfully reported over team radio – before his Williams team urged him to exit the cockpit quick-smart as TV images showed the rear of the car catching fire Watch the dramatic moment in the video up top VideoRACE START: Verstappen narrowly holds onto the lead in thrilling start to Miami GP as Piastri lost out to Russell behind for the same reason picked off the Dutchman on merit with an on-track pass and set about building such a lead the undercut was completely negated He wound up with the biggest winning margin of the year and fastest lap to boot for an emphatic victory with McLaren leaving him out so long he was undercut by both Russell and Leclerc He managed to catch back up and pass the Mercedes but despite catching Leclerc he just couldn’t find the pace to pick off the Ferrari “Thank you to everyone at the factory for delivering such a strong car and the whole team here for executing the weekend flawlessly but I got stuck in the dirty air behind the Ferrari so I couldn't maximise the points on my side so the next part of the season is going to be pretty fun "We come away from the Dutch Grand Prix with a strong victory and further validation of the progress we are making as a team he completed a dominant weekend with a comfortable victory and fastest lap in addition to his pole position yesterday giving further proof to the calibre of driver we know him to be Oscar also delivered a strong weekend and was unlucky to finish just outside the podium places He was caught in dirty air for a long period of the race but still brings home important points for the Constructors’ Championship “This weekend’s performance was enhanced by the new upgrades we brought to the track which have proven to add competitiveness to the car and my thanks go to the entire team for their work in developing We will celebrate this victory and quickly turn our attention to next week’s Italian Grand Prix where we hope to continue with the momentum we have built over the past several races and we look forward to racing again in Monza.” and was clean and away into the first corner but he couldn’t pull away from Norris as he started to overuse his tyres Red Bull tried the undercut but to no avail second was the best he could do for his home fans on a day the McLaren was just too quick Following in the dirty air hampered his tyre life as well but he did manage to hold off the charge of Russell late on with Mercedes trying to two-stop their way past the Mexican READ MORE: ‘We’re not quick enough’ – Verstappen eager for Red Bull gains after losing out to McLaren rival Norris on home soil “Today the start was good and we got a lead in front once I was overtaken it became about managing my own race as I know I didn’t have the pace to catch Lando The car balance has been difficult this weekend we just didn’t have the pace and we struggled with our tyres I tried my best but it just didn’t work today and we had quite a big gap to Lando We didn’t have our best weekend and we will go back and analyse what we can do better It is my 200th race and it was nice to drive in front of my home crowd Those races have gone by quickly and when I grew up this was something I thought about; I imagine I will look back and be proud of this moment It was great to be here in front of home Grand Prix and in front of fans but it is a shame as you always want to win for them." “I had a great start but unfortunately was squeezed into turn one and then lost a position to Charles In the beginning things were looking really good but we just didn’t have the pace to keep up We were struggling with the grip on the hard tyre and balance all race but it has been a good weekend in terms of understanding the car issues and we can go forward to take this as the base and to develop from here I also feel like this is a very extreme scenario with the tail wind corners and we struggled more than other teams Monza will be a different kind of track and we hope more positive We will keep our heads down and be fully focused on getting to the bottom of our issues we’ve got a lot of work to do to understand where the pace has gone so hopefully we can get back up to speed in Monza next week." We did everything we could and Max converted P2 into a lead at the start but you could see he couldn’t compete with Lando’s pace In hindsight the gamble we made with more downforce We need to understand where the deficit is to McLaren and how we can improve performance on our car we have some idea and will work hard to do that We are going to have to respond and I am confident we have the strength and depth to do that Max has a 70-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship but we have to keep scoring as a Team and on the days we can’t win you have to finish second Checo had a solid drive too and looking at his pace he looked strong particularly in the second half of the race we have plenty of work to do but we have learnt a lot of lessons this weekend that can be very valuable we have tried some things on the car that we have good data from to assess We need to make sure we use that; it is time to digest what happened here and try to bounce back in Monza." Ferrari didn’t have the pace to compete in qualifying and then managed to cleverly undercut both Russell and Piastri to leap up into the podium places From there he had to defend hard from the charging Piastri for lap after lap not putting a foot wrong to secure his second straight podium he also made good progress up from 10th on the grid the Spaniard with very strong pace from word go He managed to pull off several overtakes too "It’s not often that I would say I am happy with a P3 I am extremely happy with the job the team has done on such a difficult weekend and managed to put it all together when it matters most undercut our competitors and kept them behind It feels great to start the second half of the season like this We will give it our all to make our tifosi proud there." "This is a good result as we didn't expect to have such a positive race especially after a very difficult start to the weekend We executed a very solid race all along with good overtakes on track and a fast pace especially with the hard tyre once I cleared the cars ahead "Charles also had a very good Sunday and I'm happy for the team We'll definitely arrive in Monza in high spirits and I can’t wait to race in front of our tifosi!" "We were not very optimistic coming to Zandvoort but today it went very well for both sides of the garage: we had good starts with both drivers managing their tyres very well Charles was able to keep (Oscar) Piastri behind him and deserved this podium We have to be positive and appreciate this even if we have to keep in mind that (Lando) Norris was a long way ahead and really we felt we were in better shape on used tyres than with new ones overall it has been a good weekend and we must build on this some of them will suit us better than others and we must see what we can do with the new package that is coming soon but today has certainly been a confidence boost for the team Tonight we will allow ourselves to enjoy this podium and as from tomorrow we will focus on Monza." and used that compound wo climb back into the top 10 from his P14 grid slot He managed to make them last long enough to negate any time losses an early pit stop would have cost Meanwhile Russell had been running third in the early stages but was undercut by Leclerc He couldn’t keep Piastri at bay and was about to lose out to Sainz when the team brought him in for a second stop In the end he didn’t get that place back so the second stop cost him as he finished with his team mate right on his tail despite having started 10 places ahead "We knew today was all about damage limitation We managed to work our way back into the points but ultimately we didn’t have the pace to fight for much more today I enjoyed getting past several cars though and putting the Soft tyre to use in that opening stint It felt good to move forwards but I’m a little disappointed as if we had a better Saturday then the fight would have been for more points we were looking at running to the end on the one-stop I had a lock-up on the Hard tyre though and that meant we switched to the two-stop It was a shame to lose the point for fastest lap at the end but I should have put in a quicker effort earlier on." We didn’t have the pace and that was the case on all three tyre compounds It felt that I was sliding around quite a lot We will have to understand why that was as we were relatively quick on Saturday but we have been up near the front in the past six races I am therefore confident that this is an outlier "We will get to work immediately to understand why we were slower than our competitors today We have another race next weekend in Monza and we will aim to put in a much better showing there." It was quite a contrast to the previous Grand Prix in Spa where we had set the pace and finished first and second on track We clearly got some decisions wrong in terms of how we were running the car here We will evaluate that quickly so we can avoid another race like this Sometimes it is good to be bruised though to take a step forward we switched to a two-stop strategy as he was running out of tyre in his second stint That higher degradation was likely in part due to some set-up decisions we took We will need to do a full analysis to understand how much of it was down to that or other factors although we were evaluating the one-stop midway through he suffered a lock up on the Hard tyre and we switched him onto the two-stop strategy His pace was good throughout though and that gives us encouragement There is clearly lots of learning we can take from this weekend and hopefully we can bounce back next weekend in Monza." We will go away and pick through the data to understand why we were off the pace both in qualifying and race trim Today we were lacking the speed to fight for much more than we achieved That led to higher degradation than our competitors and forced us into a two-stop race but we will be working hard to ensure that isn't the case next weekend in Monza." Gasly started and finished ninth after a strong showing in the Netherlands He managed to hold some faster cars at bay in the opening stages pitted a few laps later than his rivals and then used that tyre offset to overtake He had an entertaining tussle with Hulkenberg towards the end of the race and managed to build enough of a gap to fend off Alonso late on Ocon couldn’t quite enjoy his outing as much his race was marred by both being in a DRS train and also blue flags READ MORE: ‘Everything is possible’ – Alpine’s Briatore and Oakes on their plans to tempt Newey and revolutionise Enstone “It’s a weekend for us to learn from as I came here with different expectations a tricky race day and a tough weekend in general Finishing in fifteenth was our end position and all I could achieve with cars ahead and traffic throughout on a track that is tough for overtaking It is important for us to understand why we struggled here in particular and where we can improve there are some positives to take away from Zandvoort where Pierre showed good pace and managed to score useful points for the team We only have a couple of days to turn things around and come back stronger next week at Monza I am looking forward to racing there again and see what some of the track changes might bring.” “It was such a fun race today and to come away with some points is always a nice feeling I’m really happy with the progress we made as a team since Friday and we managed to turn things around and come away as the best team after the top four I passed Fernando [Alonso] and Lance [Stroll] on the outside of Turn 1 That massively helped our race as I then had good track position and I could just manage the race and look after the tyres After the pit-stop we had some overtakes to make and I had confidence in the car to brake and keep a good line on the outside of Turn 1 There were some exciting moves out there and we’ve come away with two points as a result We are continuing to show signs of progress and hopefully we can keep that going.” “I’m pleased that the team comes away from Zandvoort with points on the board in a race where we were genuinely the fifth fastest team We made good progress after a tricky Friday which is credit to the work done overnight into Qualifying There were good strategy calls in the race by extending the first stint racing the Aston Martins and allowing the drivers to push to the end Before the race we were hoping to at least try and maintain position knowing that would be difficult due to some cars being out of position behind us crucially getting ahead of both Aston Martins early on and pulling off some good overtakes to pick up two crucial points for the team Esteban’s day was a little compromised from the start after a difficult Qualifying yesterday and he also ultimately finished where he started on a track that’s notoriously hard to overtake With the double-header we don’t have long to wait until Monza which we expect to be a little trickier for us.” but they couldn’t stay there come the flag and worse was to come for Stroll who picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane but Alonso kept his head down and didn’t give up He managed a late move on Hulkenberg to grab the final point on offer “We knew that the top-four teams would take the top-eight positions today we didn't have the pace we needed and Pierre [Gasly] did a better job than us It was a challenging race and we need to do more to understand the car to find where we can improve “We knew we had some faster cars starting behind us today so it wasn't a surprise to see [Lewis] Hamilton and [Carlos] Sainz passing us the focus was on holding position as we didn't really have the pace in the car to challenge for more We'll debrief on this weekend and then shift our focus to Monza knowing we need to keep pushing to bring additional performance.” “A disappointing Dutch Grand Prix - although we did manage to secure a hard-earned point We knew it would be tough with some faster cars behind [Pierre] Gasly managed to overtake Fernando on the first lap and we weren't able to get back in front at a track which doesn't provide many overtaking opportunities Lance locked up entering the pitlane which meant he exceeded the pit lane speed limit triggering a five second penalty but that didn't change the result After a positive Qualifying we were still not quick enough today especially against the midfield challengers We now need to refocus our energy and attention on the next challenge in Monza next weekend.” Magnussen was forced into a pit lane start after changing his car set-up under parc ferme He bolted on the hard tyres from the pit lane and went the longest of anyone but there was no Safety Car and once he did pit Hulkenberg went for a very early stop by contrast and then tried to eke those tyres to the finish he lost out to both Gasly and Alonso late on to fall out of the points we actually managed to turn around two meaningful sessions It was looking very promising for a lot of the race but I don’t think we got the strategy right or we might have been too aggressive with the pitstop Pierre (Gasly) and Fernando (Alonso) had much fresher tyres so I couldn’t fight back It’s a shame as maybe a point or two would’ve been possible today but overall it was a good recovery from what was a difficult weekend.” “Starting from the pit lane we knew it was going to be a difficult race – and it was I think the pace looked decent from where I was although I still need to see the times of everyone but it felt strong when I was fighting people and then I got stuck in traffic after the first stop I don’t think we had bad pace and although we haven’t come away with much Hopefully the next races with more medium downforce levels are going to be good for us.” he started the weekend off the backfoot which translated into poor qualifying position but from P12 he had a very strong race we didn’t do certain basics well and I think we could’ve fought for P9 or P10 if we’d had better race execution we had to change his battery so he started from the pit lane it’s very difficult to recover but I think we did the best we could With the traffic and our car’s strengths and weaknesses in certain places like Nico’s performance was very strong and I think Kevin in clear air was strong as well but we need to put it all together next weekend.” He was forced into an early stop which sent him to the slower two-stop strategy and he spent much of his race in a DRS train Ricciardo benefited from the various penalties to start P13 after exiting in Q1 yesterday and he turned that into a 12th place finish But Zandvoort didn’t seem to overly suit the RB and neither driver looked likely to score points today “We didn’t get points today but I feel much better than yesterday and I’m more pleased with how the day went I was frustrated after qualifying as it didn’t help starting from the back but today I was able to put together a better race and I think the cars in front of us were a bit faster I’m happy with the bigger picture of the race; in terms of pace we pushed during the times we had catching Lance (Stroll) and Nico (Hulkenberg) towards the end of the race we’ll be even more okay putting it all together from start to finish and qualify better to have an easier Sunday.” We knew that it was going to be 50:50 with 2 stops but the lap we pitted was too late and the timing was wrong Using the soft tyre and losing a position at the start was unideal for sure and then I was just stuck in traffic and always behind dirty air I finished the race way behind where I started We certainly could have done better as a team improve and work on things for the future.” “Of course we wanted to start the second part of the season with a better performance than today’s it became clear that we were missing some performance compared to our nearest competitors and dropping your relative performance by just a tenth or so is the difference between fighting in the top 10 or not We tried a few things in the race to make up some positions and took a bit of a risk by putting Yuki on a two-stop race but it clearly did not work and he was stuck in traffic for most of the race Daniel had a good go at staying with the Astons in front all race long and drove a strong but this was not enough to get points today It was not the smoothest weekend for us but one that we will certainly learn from as a Team we are well aware that we need to bring more speed to our car in order to keep fighting at the front of the ultra tight midfield and everyone is absolutely flat out in Faenza and in Bicester to bring more developments to the car soon.” “We have a lot to review from this weekend Yuki’s strategy did not pan out as we wanted and this made his race difficult for him Daniel’s race pace was reasonable and he was able to fight with the cars around him today’s race has confirmed that there is now next to no delta in race pace between the teams towards the front of the midfield As well as delivering our planned aero developments we need to be focused on extracting more from our cars in qualifying and in the first laps of the race as both of these aspects of the weekend are critical in maximising opportunities in the last phase of the race we will be focused on addressing the key points from this weekend in order to be as well prepared as possible to extract everything possible.” things were more straightforward for Williams on Sunday Both drivers saw the flag with minimal dramas for starters and Albon was even flirting with the points at one stage But having been forced into an early stop thanks to traffic he had to pit again and that cost him too much time for any chance of points Being out of position at the start meant we unfortunately didn’t have the pure pace to get through the midfield battle our championship rivals are the ones that benefited the most from this We did try different things with our strategy but were covered off by other cars in front of us who were trying to help their teammate it’s positive that the upgrade worked and the car is strong so we’ll take the challenges and learnings from this tough weekend and try to focus on Monza." A big thank you to everyone for getting the car turned around for today it’s greatly appreciated from my side as I know how much work goes into it We tried to make the one-stop work which was tricky with a lot of defending and blue flags to deal with but it was always going to be tough from where we started." "The race unfolded today as we expected with many drivers going for the one-stop strategy on Medium and Hard tyres Alex had a good start picking up a few places but then got stuck so we decided to pit him early and go for a two-stop he managed to pass a few more drivers and ended the race in P14 we decided to stay out and go for the one-stop He had a good last stint holding Tsunoda and Magnussen behind him on old Hard tyres and finished in P16 A frustrating weekend for the team but we are looking forward to Monza as the new package has shown a good step in performance and should suit the car." who remain the only team yet to score this season with Bottas trying the soft tyres for a quick getaway It almost worked as he did make up places but couldn’t hold onto them as the C3 rubber started to wear they both went backwards to be the only team to finish two laps down after both needing two trips to the pits "This has been arguably our weakest weekend of the season We had a really good start and climbed to a decent position: everything was under control for the first few laps but we soon realised we couldn’t keep up with the cars ahead we were just not fast enough in the race and that’s where we ended up I hoped things would improve with a different tyre compound but we tried them all and they wouldn’t make a difference: I believe this unique circuit amplifies our weaknesses as it highlights the sensitivity of our car: the bankings the camber and the wind – they are all working against us here this weekend gave us a lot of things to take in for the future and lots to learn next week’s track in Monza is going to be very different: I have higher hopes going into the next race we need to continue working hard and keep pushing not to lose confidence definitely not what we wanted coming back from the break We were quite far off compared to our main rivals throughout the weekend as soon as the track turned dry it will be important for us to understand why we struggle so much on high fuel – as the changes we implemented didn’t quite work for us We had prepared for a difficult race today: I struggled with grip from the opening lap and quickly found myself unable to keep up with the pack on a different track layout which should also be less impacted by windy conditions Our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions so far and we must work on that for the remainder of the season.” “Today has potentially been the most difficult race of the season for us we finished at the bottom of the field in P19 and P20 being lapped twice – a hard picture of our current race pace We obviously lack performance in race conditions and we have also seen that we experience higher tyre degradation than our competitors We found ourselves in a very difficult situation and we need to understand whether today’s performance is more related to the track characteristics We must have a strong reaction as we need to change the trajectory of this season as soon as possible – starting from Monza.” where we witnessed one driver and one team – Lando Norris and McLaren – demonstrate clear superiority over his rivals and team-mate there was a great battle within the two groups of teams which have emerged this season: the leading group Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the field we had our predictions going into the race confirmed namely that the one-stop was the quickest option From the small amount of data acquired during free practice and based on earlier simulations we expected to see more cars run the Soft to benefit from its performance advantage over the Medium the majority of teams decided to tackle the first stint more cautiously given there was not much information available to them as he was the driver who made up the most places from his grid position starting on the C3 and then opting to use it again for his third stint.” After embarking on its traditional summer break, Formula 1 is back in action with the Dutch Grand Prix kicking off the second half of the season. Ahead of the event, Need to Know is your all-in-one guide with stats, trivia, insight and much more. You can also see how fans have voted using our F1 Play predictor game First and second practice will take place on Friday followed by final practice and qualifying on Saturday IT'S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we're excited about ahead of the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix *From the last two races in the Netherlands FAN VIEW: F1 Play gamers appear to be split on who will take victory in the Dutch Grand Prix with voters picking out six potential winners Lewis Hamilton (17.4%) is pretty much even with Charles Leclerc (17.4%) in the voting ahead of Max Verstappen (16.6%) Lando Norris (16.3%) and George Russell (16.2%) Norris’ McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri (15.9%) is also garnering a healthy share of the votes former Renault F1 driver: I’ve only done this one on a bike Zandvoort is actually a lovely circuit that has been adapted really well for modern F1 F1 NATION: Will Verstappen hit another home run or can his rivals cause an upset as F1 returns? It’s our Dutch GP preview You don’t really appreciate the banking until you go around it at Turn 3 but everyone just bolts for the outside line and tries to get the exit right and you’ve got to just have it hooked up in the high speed sections You don’t want to be having random snaps of oversteer because it’s a punishing circuit as well.. ONBOARD: Max Verstappen’s 2023 Pirelli Pole Position Award lap at the Dutch Grand Prix HIGHLIGHTS: Catch up on the action as Russell and Hamilton duel for win in thrilling Belgian Grand Prix FAN VIEW: There are several names in contention when it comes to F1 Play gamers’ choice for pole position The Mercedes pair of Hamilton (20.8%) and Russell (19.2%) are strong contenders Leclerc (20.7%) and last year’s pole-sitter – and winner – Verstappen (19.6%) Verstappen sealed a third consecutive Dutch Grand Prix victory in 2023 “What makes this track really unique on the championship trail are the banked Turns 3 and 14 with a gradient of 19 and 18 degrees respectively which for a point of reference is steeper than that found at Indianapolis,” reads Pirelli’s weekend preview “Banked corners are not that common in Formula 1 and therefore present an unusual challenge for both car and driver because the higher speeds of the banked turns compared to the normal ones subjects them to even greater forces READ MORE: What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix? thermal degradation is a very significant factor but much will depend on the weather in late August The Netherlands borders Belgium and we saw before the break how climatic conditions at these latitudes can change from one day to the next and even within the space of a day so that summer doesn’t necessarily mean warm temperatures and sunshine “The average temperature in Zandvoort in late August varies between 14C and 20C which could help drivers manage even the softest compounds as was seen in last year’s race when Yuki Tsunoda ran 50 laps on the soft “A further variable results from the track’s proximity to the sea shore so that wind often coats the track with sand thus lowering the grip available to the tyres pre-event simulations point to a one-stop as the quickest strategy because the track is very narrow and there are few straights therefore very limited passing opportunities READ MORE: What is the weather forecast for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix? then the harder compounds should be favourite but cooler weather would see the soft become a viable race tyre.” FAN VIEW: With the top six expected to be in the mix for victory, there are few choices to plump for in the podium outsiders category. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will likely be next in line, according to F1 Play gamers with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso earning a small percentage of votes Zandvoort's banked corners present an unusual challenge for both car and driver When the Dutch Grand Prix played host to the first race after the summer break back in 2023 Verstappen and Red Bull looked to be an unstoppable force The Dutchman held a 125-point lead in the drivers’ standings while his team were ahead in the constructors’ by a mammoth 256 points Fast-forward 12 months and the picture looks very different While Verstappen and the Milton Keynes squad are indeed at the top of both leaderboards again the gap to their rivals – particularly in the teams’ championship – is significantly smaller POWER RANKINGS: Where do the drivers rank at the halfway stage of the season? Verstappen remains 78 points clear of nearest challenger Lando Norris but the Dutchman will be keen to get back to winning ways at Zandvoort after going without a victory since the Spanish Grand Prix in June Can he resume his run of consecutive wins at his home track meaning that – in the right circumstances – they could potentially put themselves at the top of the constructors’ table with a strong result Much of this could depend on the performance of Sergio Perez with his team needing him to score more points in order to fend off the challenge posed by their rivals amid an increasingly tight scrap at the front This is a fight that has seen Mercedes feature more and more frequently; the Silver Arrows have collected more wins than any other outfit since Round 8 in Monaco and it will be fascinating to see if their strong form continues at the Dutch Grand Prix Question marks also persist over whether Ferrari can bounce back and put themselves firmly back in the battle FAN VIEW: Further down the field, the likes of Williams’ Alex Albon, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo are expected to challenge for points, while Ricciardo’s team mate Yuki Tsunoda is another popular choice amongst F1 Play gamers James Hunt claimed 10 Grand Prix wins during an F1 career that spanned most of the 1970s and the first of them was a piece of history not just for himself but also the plucky Hesketh upstart team he represented In a 1975 encounter that started on a damp track but soon shifted to dry conditions Hunt pitted after seven laps to change his wet tyres for slicks but many others – including pole-sitting Ferrari driver Niki Lauda – initially stayed out READ MORE: 5 great moments in Dutch Grand Prix history Once the rest of the field had eventually pitted Hunt found himself in the giddy heights of P1 – a position Lauda was desperate to reclaim the inimitable Briton could not be stopped as he logged his maiden F1 win and the one-and-only triumph for Lord Hesketh’s operation with the mighty Ferrari toppled by a fledgling force and it remains at the head of the list when it comes to iconic moments at the Dutch Grand Prix Watch how it all unfolded in the video player below.. DUTCH GRAND PRIX: Hunt's maiden victory in 1975 There’s more activity taking place this weekend as part of the wider Sustainability Strategy that Formula 1 introduced in 2019 which includes the goal of being Net Zero by 2030 leaving a legacy of positive change and creating a more diverse sport that reflects the world in which we race 98% of visitors used sustainable transport to and from the circuit and the Dutch Grand Prix expects to maintain or exceed this figure in 2024 with over 40,000 fans expected to cycle to the event Attendees will also arrive by train or on foot for a faster and more sustainable commute The Dutch Grand Prix has transitioned to a permanent green power grid and having extended it to the F1 Hospitality Paddock it significantly reduced fuel consumption from 120,000L in 2021 to 40,000L in 2023 this reduced the climate footprint by 94.5% in 2023 compared to the event’s first year DESTINATION GUIDE: What fans can eat, see and do when they visit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix the Dutch Grand Prix offers special care amenities for those with disabilities A bespoke ‘hotel’ in the camping area provides accessible showers There is also an accessible viewing platform on the main straight for disabled fans together with the Foundation Ambulance Wish the Dutch Grand Prix will host terminally ill patients to fulfil their wish of attending an F1 event on Thursday with a special Pit Lane walk As part of the event’s nature development plan special ‘clean teams’ are deployed at the circuit and its surroundings to make sure that no trash is left behind the Dutch Grand Prix uses a token recycling system where fans can win prizes post-event with the goal to encourage fans to return their cups – the event aims to recycle at least 75% of used cups was first used at the Floriade Expo and The Founders Lounge was first used as a beach restaurant and has now found a permanent place within Circuit Zandvoort F1 ACADEMY Discover Your Drive will come to life at the Dutch Grand Prix via two activities: a career panel and the F1 ACADEMY Career Discovery Program The panel will highlight the range of pathways into the motorsport industry attendees will be treated to a guided track walk Students from TU Delft – a local technical university – will take part in the Career Discovery Program to learn what it's like to work in the industry FIA post-Qualifying press conference – Miami It was announced earlier this month that Zandvoort would hold its final Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix in 2026 With the current calendar seeming to be fixed at 24 races per year this leaves a space for another track to host a GP in only a couple of years’ time Will we see a new track make its debut on the F1 calendar A key contender for a future Formula 1 race is Rwanda, with the country formally announcing its bid to hold an race earlier this month Rwanda hosted the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Kigali on 13 December, and Max Verstappen also served his community service in Rwanda for swearing in a Singapore GP press conference where he attended a grassroots motorsports development event Talks have been in progress to bring F1 to Rwanda for a while and Alexander Wurz is designing a track to be located near the capital city of Kigali F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said earlier this year that Rwanda was “serious” and had “presented a good plan” for the prospects of holding a grand prix there in the future when the last South African GP was held at Kyalami Drivers have called for F1 to visit Africa again, including Lewis Hamilton who said: “I think having a grand prix there it would really be able to highlight just how great the place is and bring in tourism and all sorts of things Max Verstappen also said: “I really think we need a race in Africa We basically race on every other continent already so I think that's the next step for Formula 1 Formula 1 already has a history in South Africa so that would be a great addition to the Formula 1 calendar.” Kyalami is the South African track where F1 raced between 1967-1985 and 1992-1993 as the South African Grand Prix Kyalami would seem a logical place for F1 to go given its established nature as a Formula 1 track Earlier this year, ex-F1 driver David Coulthard visited the track “I believe in the interest and the desire and if the people that need to put signature on paper can find an agreement While Kyalami does not currently hold FIA Grade 1 certification there’s a chance F1 could return to the track in replacement of Zandvoort - the first F1 race to be held in Africa for 34 years F1 hasn’t visited Turkey since 2021, when Valtteri Bottas took the victory ahead of Verstappen and Sergio Perez The track is situated in Istanbul Park and made its debut on the calendar in 2005 when it made a brief return during the COVID-hit campaigns FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss F1 returning to Turkey Ben Sulayem said: “Istanbul Park is a modern circuit which is popular with drivers while the city of Istanbul is a thriving metropolis which would welcome a return of Formula 1 with open arms.” Can Bilim Egitim Kurumlari A.S took over from previous leaseholders Intercity and will be the operators for the next 30 years keen to bring Turkey back to the F1 calendar plans for the new Speed Park Track in Qiddiya the track includes an uphill section to be held high above the ground Multiple drivers spoke in favour of the track, such as Lando Norris, who said: “I've seen the video and the preview You have a lot of places which are nowhere near as lively and as fun if you want people to be attracted to the sport in general you don't want it just to be a track in the middle of nowhere that no one goes to.” Construction of the site is underway and could be completed by 2027 This might come a little too late to immediately replace Zandvoort but it would be a contender to join the calendar in place of the current Saudi Arabian GP track in Jeddah With the replacement of Logan Sargeant after the Dutch GP with young Argentinian driver Franco Colapinto at Williams F1 hasn’t been to Argentina since 1998 and despite Colapinto not being on the 2025 grid it hasn’t stopped interest in grand prix racing returning to the nation of five-time F1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio Argentina’s former vice president Daniel Scioli revealed they were starting to work on possibly bringing F1 back to Argentina “We are starting to work on the possibility of bringing Formula 1 back to Argentina,” Scioli said “There is a lot of hard work to be done in order to reach the objective on all the requirements of an event as sophisticated as this one.” But if Colapinto was able to make his way back onto the grid with a full-time drive in the near future demands for a return in his home country could increase With a new major German manufacturer joining the grid in 2026, when Sauber is fully rebranded as Audi there will no doubt be enthusiasm for F1 to return to Germany Despite being the second-most successful nation in terms of wins Germany has not hosted a race since 2019 at Hockenheim prepare to lead the field away at the start It was reported by German media earlier this year that the emodrom investor group would invest €250million in the track across the next 5-10 years Managing director Tim Brauer said: “Of course But we approach such considerations with great caution We will not embark on any financial adventures but we will also try to find models for how we can bring Formula 1 back to Germany.” The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has held the Spanish Grand Prix since its construction in 1991 However, it was announced in January of this year that the Spanish GP would make the move to Madrid from the 2026 season due to be held at a hybrid 3.4-mile track in the outskirts of the city if no other track was to present itself soon enough to slot itself for the 2027 season there is the possibility that F1 will choose to have one fewer round on the calendar given almost half the year’s weekends are currently occupied by grands prix The timetable is strenuous and takes drivers and team personnel into multiple different timezones across five continents At the start of the 2024 season, multiple drivers spoke out against the busy calendar, including Carlos Sainz who said: “I really hope it just doesn’t go much higher than 24 I think it’s going to be very tricky for everyone.” Lando Norris set the pace during the opening practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend with the McLaren driver coming out on top in an hour that featured changing track conditions following early rainfall Four weeks on from F1’s last pre-summer break outing in Belgium it was a wet and windy start to the second half of the season when the lights went green for FP1 in Zandvoort at 1230 local time meaning that there was no great rush for cars to leave the pit lane PADDOCK INSIDER: The battle at the front heats up as driver market questions remain – the climax to the 2024 season starts now Pierre Gasly was the first to explore the track with the wet weather tyres bolted onto his Alpine just a few hours after it was confirmed that the Frenchman’s team mate in 2025 will be the squad’s current reserve driver Jack Doohan While Gasly described the conditions as “pretty wild” Nico Hulkenberg discovered this for himself when he locked up and sent his Haas across the gravel before returning to the circuit Others were also testing the limits and amongst those early on track was Robert Shwartzman running as a rookie behind the wheel of Valtteri Bottas’ Kick Sauber Despite the rain disappearing 10 minutes into the hour the wind and standing water still posed a challenge as the session progressed with the VF-24 seemingly experiencing some issues while others continued to kick up spray as the track evolved Max Verstappen suffered a spin as he became one of the first to run the intermediate tyres who put himself at the top of the timesheets before being pipped by George Russell READ MORE: Doohan promoted to F1 for 2025 as Alpine confirm he will partner Gasly As the track dried out further and drivers started to push more – resulting in further off-track excursions for some – a few took a gamble on slick tyres for the final 10 minutes who promptly went fastest with a lap three seconds quicker than his effort on the intermediate rubber as the times rapidly continued to tumble amid the majority of the pack switching to slicks After a flurry of laps coming in and plenty of traffic on track it was Norris who returned to P1 via a time of 1m 12.322s on the soft tyre putting him 0.201s clear of Verstappen’s Red Bull The drivers contended with wet and windy conditions during the opening practice session at Zandvoort Lewis Hamilton went third fastest for Mercedes while Carlos Sainz slotted into fourth after running the medium tyre on his Ferrari followed by Alex Albon in an eye-catching sixth for Williams and Oscar Piastri in seventh for McLaren The Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were eighth and ninth respectively while Zhou Guanyu rounded out the top-10 in the Kick Sauber This put him ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll Yuki Tsunoda in the RB and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso from P11 to P15 READ MORE: Verstappen expecting his toughest Dutch Grand Prix yet as he assesses challenge posed by ‘many more teams’ Shwartzman ended his appearance for Kick Sauber in P16 ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant in P17 and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in P18 while Gasly brought up the rear in 20th place With the first practice session of the weekend complete the teams and drivers will have the opportunity to debrief and take a pause before returning to the track for second practice at 1600 local time Piastri wins from Norris and Russell as McLaren seal commanding 1-2 in Miami Grand Prix Formula One is back after the summer break and heads to Zandvoort in the Netherlands for Max Verstappen's home race It is the first race weekend of a doubleheader Zandvoort first held a grand prix in 1952 but dropped off the calendar in 1985 Verstappen is the only winner of the Dutch Grand Prix since its return with three victories Win again this weekend and he would equal Jim Clark who has the most victories at Zandvoort with four but McLaren and Mercedes will be desperate to stop his pursuit of national history The weather looks generally settled across the weekend with highs of 22 degrees C and a few potential showers on Friday and Saturday Dutch fans at the 2023 grand prix at Zandvoort. GettyLatest newsTo refresh your memory, last time out at the Belgian Grand Prix George Russell was stripped of his victory due to his car being underweight with teammate Lewis Hamilton inheriting the win At the start of the summer break Carlos Sainz signed a contract with Williams for 2025 and beyond, and Red Bull reaffirmed their commitment to Sergio Pérez Meanwhile, Helmut Marko has said that Red Bull stuck by Pérez because the team feels its car has become too difficult for him to drive and that a turnaround in form is just around the corner will take part in FP1 for the Stake team in Valtteri Bottas' place The 2024 F1 season has gone from predictable to must-see TV Dutch GP preview | Listen to the latest podcast episode The Dutch GP is synonymous with sand dunes in the seaside resort of Zandvoort. GettyCircuit stats and historyZandvoort is synonymous with sand dunes as the track weaves around them at the beachside resort It's a high-adrenaline circuit with fast straights it was on and off the calendar and had a series of negative incidents including fatalities that led to a number of upgrades being Most poles: Max Verstappen (2021-2023) and René Arnoux (1979-1980 Fernando Alonso finished second in the Dutch GP, behind Max Verstappen and ahead of Pierre Gasly in third. Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty ImagesWhat happened last year?Verstappen equalled Sebastian Vettel's record of nine consecutive F1 wins with his third at Zandvoort Despite heavy downpours and a red flag caused by a crash in Turn One Verstappen still finished 3.7 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in second to bolster Red Bull's dominant season It's hard to look past Verstappen with the support of the Oranje army at his home race and his record of mopping up the last three races here If he wins again he can storm ahead in the championship but given the upturn in form by McLaren and Mercedes it could be a tight battle on the seafront Watch on ESPNEWS and ESPN+ (U.S For news, analysis and updates, follow the coverage with ESPN's F1 team Nate Saunders and Laurence Edmondson in Zandvoort and on social media banked corners and weaving around sand dunes. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesHow the championships lookNo surprise that Verstappen is still top of the championship after 14 races with a lead of 78 points over Lando Norris with Charles Leclerc just 22 points behind The constructors' championship continues to get closer with McLaren now 42 points behind Red Bull Standings | Calendar | Teams Organisers of Formula 1's Dutch Grand Prix have explained the reasoning behind calling time on their event while local hero Max Verstappen is still at the height of his powers the Dutch Grand Prix and F1 jointly announced they agreed a one-year contract extension for 2026 but that edition will also be Zandvoort's last for the time being Propelled by Verstappen's exploding popularity in his home country Zandvoort's return in 2021 has been an all-round success for F1 with the event scoring high marks for its festival-like atmosphere and off-track entertainment as well as its green credentials given the reliance on public transportation The event was always seen as one that was only possible under the unique circumstances provided by Verstappen with its fate intertwined with that of the Red Bull driver whose contract expires in 2028 and who has long signaled he isn't keen on going on forever in F1 But as one of several European F1 rounds vying to keep their spot on a rammed 24-race calendar the Dutch event has quickly held up its hand and said it is not so desperate to continue its race until Verstappen is done at all costs including being part of F1's planned rotation system for some of its European races until the Dutch decided a few weeks ago that one additional edition beyond their current contract was enough Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images According to Zandvoort circuit director Robert van Overdijk the organisers felt it was prudent to call it quits while they were still ahead with their privately funded event carrying too many financial risks to keep going on the long term we have been speaking with F1 management continuously," Van Overdijk told Autosport but a few weeks ago we decided that stopping on a high note is the best option for us at the moment so at the end of the day we are responsible for the bottom line and based on that we have to be very thorough in calculating our financial risks." as enjoyed by the neighboring Belgian Grand Prix in Spa isn't just key in helping afford F1's sanctioning fee It also helps absorb operational losses under the guise of promoting tourism Further eating into the race's bottom line this year is a so-called "fun tax" of three euros per attendee The event needs to sell out all three days to be able to break even which it can't guarantee even despite Verstappen's reign Plans in The Hague to raise VAT on ticket sales from 9-to-21% were shelved last month after facing fierce opposition but those discussions further highlighted Zandvoort's vulnerability to fiscal policies making signing a guaranteed three-race extension even riskier "We have had to make an analysis of all factors that come into play including regulations and taxes," Van Overdijk explained will the enthusiasm for Formula 1 in the Netherlands remain as high as it is now over the coming years We need a sold-out event on all three days to pay the bills "I think this is a smart and perhaps also a brave decision Why would you keep going until you can't carry on anymore We have decided to go out on a high and not when we're over the hill." takes the chequered flag as his team cheers from the pit wall Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images F1 was understood to be keen for Zandvoort to remain part of its European pool of races and it is not thought its financial demands were a particular stumbling block for Zandvoort "It's clear that we have built a fantastic relationship with F1 management," Van Overdijk added "[F1 CEO] Stefano Domenicali has always made it very clear that they wanted to keep us on the calendar "We could have kept going for a few more years but we have worked with F1 on all the options and at the end of the day this is the choice we have made I'm sure we could have come to a good agreement with F1 They have seen the obstacles we face to host a race in the Netherlands so they understand and respect our decision." "I think we can be proud of closing a historic chapter for Dutch sporting history The 2026 season will be iconic for F1 with the new regulations and engines which means everyone is starting from scratch Lando Norris got his championship tilt back on track with a commanding performance in title rival Max Verstappen’s backyard in the Netherlands But while he toasted a second career victory others left the Dutch seaside resort bitterly disappointed Lawrence Barretto picks out his winners and losers from the Dutch Grand Prix.. Norris felt he hadn’t “performed at the level of a world champion” so far this season – but there was no dispute about his quality across the Dutch Grand Prix weekend as he converted pole position into victory for the first time in six attempts READ MORE: ‘He’s been absolutely faultless’ – Brown and Stella heap praise on Norris after commanding Zandvoort victory The Briton’s pole lap was a staggering 0.356s quicker than anyone else and while he failed to lead into Turn 1 after another bad start he surged back past title rival Max Verstappen and then blasted away at the front to win by 22.896s – the biggest winning margin of the season he pumped in the fastest lap of the race – on old hard tyres – on the final lap to earn an extra point and help cut his deficit to Verstappen to 70 points with nine Grand Prix and three Sprints to go The fight for the drivers’ title is well and truly on Norris secured a dominant victory in Zandvoort Reigning world champion Verstappen’s winless run extended to five Grands Prix as he had no answer to Norris and McLaren’s scintillating pace over both one lap and long runs at his home event The Dutchman lamented Red Bull’s lack of speed at Zandvoort the RB20 having lost its all-conquering advantage and thus he couldn’t continue his run of always having won his home Grand Prix (he triumphed in 2021 He still has a substantial lead in the standings – just less than three Grands Prix worth of points – and this is only the fourth time this season he’s seen his championship advantage cut But the manner of his defeat in the Netherlands will be concerning heading into the sharp end of the campaign McLaren brought their first major upgrade package to a track since Miami – and it had the desired effect as they crushed the opposition to take pole position before taking a commanding victory through Norris – their third of 2024 Oscar Piastri was disappointed to miss out on a podium but his fourth-place finish not only meant he is the top scorer in the last five Grands Prix with 92 points but it also helped McLaren slash the gap to championship leaders Red Bull to just 30 points McLaren are in the ascendency and with more upgrades to come they have every chance of overhauling Red Bull and taking their first constructors’ championship in more than two decades Verstappen's advantage in the standings is still substantial but his winless run has extended to five Grands Prix Alex Albon delivered a cracking lap in qualifying to take P8 and give Williams their best Saturday result of the year he didn’t get the chance to capitalise on it as his car was disqualified for running an illegal floor – one of several new parts in the team’s first significant upgrade of the season Albon made a good start to pick up a few places but P14 was the best he could recover It’s unfortunate given he believed ninth was possible had he retained his original qualifying spot READ MORE: ‘That’s on our shoulders’ – Vowles stresses Williams need to address errors behind Albon disqualification ‘with immediate effect’ Charles Leclerc was as shocked as anyone by the pace of his Ferrari after a difficult qualifying where he and team mate Carlos Sainz didn’t have the pace to challenge for pole The Ferraris came alive in the race for reasons the team have yet to fully understand and were at best second quickest and at worst third fastest on pure pace a smart call to try the undercut moved him into the podium positions and he comfortably held off Piastri to take his second consecutive podium and maintain P3 in the drivers’ championship A weekend that promised plenty ultimately proved disappointing for Albon and Williams Mercedes came into Zandvoort in stellar form having won three of the last four Grands Prix and shown the speed to race at the front since introducing an upgrade six races ago with the Silver Arrows appearing to be very much in the fight for pole and the win with McLaren and Red Bull they were underwhelming in qualifying with Lewis Hamilton failing to make Q3 – and they could only manage P7 and P8 in the race as they ended up fourth-best in terms of pure pace READ MORE: Hamilton rues impact of poor qualifying in Zandvoort as Russell mystified by Mercedes’ lack of pace Ferrari haven’t had the best time of it since Leclerc won his home race in Monaco all the way back in May – and their difficult run looked set to continue as both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz lamented a lack of performance in qualifying trim They were slowest of all in the slow corners through practice but come Sunday both Leclerc and Sainz looked strong Leclerc took his seventh podium of the season while Sainz battled back from 10th – on a weekend where he had essentially no running on Friday because of bad weather and then a gearbox issue – to take fifth for his sixth straight top-six finish Leclerc secured a surprise podium in Zandvoort Esteban Ocon was at a loss to explain why the car could feel so good at the last race at Spa – where he scored a couple of points – yet so difficult to drive at the next race at Zandvoort The Frenchman was booted out of Q1 for the second year in a row at the Dutch track and simply didn’t have the pace to make any progress in the race as he crossed the line 15th F1 NATION: An emphatic victory for McLaren as Verstappen tastes defeat on home soil – it’s our Dutch GP review team mate Pierre Gasly excelled to give his team a valuable two points to further pull away from Williams in the constructors’ championship in the fight for P8 That result was set up by a superb qualifying that delivered 10th on the grid – his third Q3 appearance of the season and first time he’s outqualified Ocon in five races The Frenchman showed some impressive race-craft going toe to toe with Hamilton and Sainz on his way to ninth equalling the team’s best performance of the year Ocon endured a challenging Dutch Grand Prix weekend Red Bull’s stunted run continued in the Netherlands as they lost their grip on Zandvoort – having won every edition since it returned to the calendar – and could only manage second through Verstappen It was only their second podium in five races and while Sergio Perez secured his first top-six finish since Miami the Mexican still finished behind both McLarens and both Ferraris The pressure is well and truly on the energy drinks firm for the first time since 2021 Norris concedes he 'paid the price' as he reflects on Lap 1 battle with Verstappen in Miami Lando Norris has secured pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix in triumphant style with the Briton pumping in a time over three tenths of a second clear of nearest challenger Max Verstappen After putting himself on provisional pole during the initial runs in Q3 Norris bettered that effort by setting a sensational lap of 1m 09.673s in the McLaren This pushed Verstappen – who had briefly taken P1 – down into second place Oscar Piastri slotted into third place for McLaren while George Russell was the lead Mercedes in fourth Sergio Perez also enjoyed a better qualifying than recent weekends the Mexican putting his Red Bull into fifth Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was sixth fastest ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in seventh and an impressive Alex Albon in eighth for Williams Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top-10 for Aston Martin and Alpine respectively as Carlos Sainz struggled to get his Ferrari through and eventually ended up in 11th Lewis Hamilton – who will be investigated after the session for a potential impeding incident with Perez in Q1 – also made a shock departure in 12th for Mercedes Joining them in the elimination zone were RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in 13th and the Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in 14th and 15th places It was a disappointing Saturday for Daniel Ricciardo with the RB driver finding himself eliminated from Q1 in P16 Also out was the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in P17 and the Kick Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in P18 and P19 respectively Despite the best efforts of the Williams crew Logan Sargeant was ultimately unable to participate following his heavy crash in FP3 Qualifying Highlights: 2024 Dutch Grand Prix After a lack of representative running in the third and final practice hour earlier on Saturday due to a red flag stoppage some question marks remained as the drivers and teams readied themselves for qualifying in Zandvoort One of those uncertainties was over whether Sargeant would participate in the session following a heavy crash for the American during FP3 his Williams suffered significant damage and the crew had their work cut out if they were to repair the car in time for qualifying Given the mixed conditions during the weekend’s practice sessions – with a wet/dry FP1 a dry but windy FP2 and a mostly wet FP3 – the weather also proved to be a hot topic entering into Saturday afternoon the sun was breaking through as qualifying got under way in the dry at 1500 local time albeit it with strong winds persisting – but would the rain stay away for the full hour It was a busy start to the session as the majority of the pack headed out on the soft tyre and Hamilton put himself at the top of the timesheets after the initial runs thanks to his effort of 1m 11.375s with Norris just 0.002s away in P2 while Verstappen was only 0.018 back in P3 Hamilton set the early pace during the first runs of Q1 The stewards noted a potential impeding incident between Hamilton and Perez with the Red Bull driver having to lift after encountering the slow-moving Mercedes were focused on getting themselves out of the danger zone as the second runs commenced A queue formed in the pit lane as a number of drivers prepared for their final laps it was all to play for as Sainz was amongst those at risk in the last minutes The Spaniard managed to haul himself up into P1 before being pushed down as others improved ahead but the Mexican pumped in a lap fast enough to go top and Ricciardo missed out on Q2 by just over a tenth of a second Also dropping out were Ocon in the Alpine – who branded his car as a “disaster” – and the Kick Sauber pair of Bottas and Zhou was not able to participate following that earlier crash but was left unhappy about an alleged impeding incident with Hamilton radio replays highlighted Perez’s unhappiness at his alleged impeding incident with Hamilton with the Mexican claiming that he had “wasted a set” of tyres due to this The stewards will investigate the incident after the session The Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz were the first to put times on the board before a flurry of laps from their rivals saw Norris go fastest in the initial runs a mere nine thousandths of a second ahead of McLaren team mate Piastri with Russell five hundredths back in third Sainz may have been a little nervous at being safe by less than one tenth in P10 Hulkenberg and Albon were all in the danger zone as the second runs began After improvements from Gasly and Tsunoda put them into the top-10 – followed by an impressive showing by Albon to go into P5 – Sainz was pushed out The Spaniard could only improve to P10 on his own effort and was soon eliminated when Leclerc moved up to P6 The Ferrari man wasn’t the only high-profile casualty with Hamilton making a surprise exit in P12 Also out were Tsunoda in 13th and the Haas cars of Hulkenberg and Magnussen in 14th and 15th Sainz looked to be struggling in Q2 and ultimately exited the session in P11 it was time for the all-important top-10 shootout and six drivers opted to put an early banker lap in Norris set the initial benchmark with a time of 1m 10.074s on fresh tyres with Russell in fourth and Leclerc taking fifth while Gasly was the final driver to set a timed lap in sixth all looked set to gamble on just one lap in the session The Aston Martins chose to run out of sequence as they headed out onto a clear track during a lull in the action resulting in Alonso going fifth fastest while Stroll took seventh after a slightly messy lap from the Canadian While Verstappen briefly sent the crowd wild by taking P1 Norris then bettered his initial effort by pumping in a 1m 09.673s beating the Dutchman by over three tenths of a second Piastri made it a double celebration for McLaren by taking third place Russell was less than one tenth away from the Australian in fourth while Perez ended the session in fifth for Red Bull Stroll and Gasly completed the final positions in the top-10 Norris will start the Dutch Grand Prix from pole position in the McLaren "An amazing day," said pole-sitter Norris "It’s nice to be back and start with a pole The qualifying was always pretty smooth and I put in some good laps A great job by the team and I’m happy with today but he’s still second and he’s going to be putting up a good fight The 2024 Dutch Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Zandvoort AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from the Miami GP as Piastri wins in dominant McLaren 1-2 What the teams said – Sprint day and Qualifying in Miami ‘Just to get into Q3 is tough’ – Hamilton admits Ferrari ‘struggling big time’ after exiting Miami Qualifying in P12 Charles Leclerc reckons Ferrari could be in for a challenging Dutch Grand Prix weekend after he and the team experienced a low-key first day of practice at Zandvoort Following on from limited running in a wet/dry FP1 session Leclerc placed ninth on the timesheets during a more representative FP2 – three quarters of a second off the pace set by George Russell FP2: Russell leads Piastri and Hamilton in tight second practice at Zandvoort RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen finished ahead of the Monegasque who was left to assess where Ferrari are lacking It comes as the team try to recover from mid-season developments that brought back the unwanted side effect of bouncing and have forced the Scuderia to carry out tests – and apply interim solutions – for several races “Tough!” Leclerc said of his day at the wheel We don’t quite have the pace of the guys in front “I think it’s better than what it looks like on the timesheet at the end of the day but still not quite in the fight for the win READ MORE: Verstappen admits Red Bull simply ‘too slow’ as home hero ends Friday practice at Zandvoort searching for answers Leclerc was then asked if the potential for further rain on Saturday – and during qualifying – could present himself and Ferrari with an opportunity to bridge the gap “I will try to do something special in quali but we are speaking of gaps at the moment that are a bit too big to do something special It was a frustrating day for Leclerc’s team mate who missed most of FP2 due to a gearbox issue There were more problems for team mate Carlos Sainz who could only complete a handful of laps in the dry FP2 session before a gearbox issue struck and ended his day “Basically no track running today,” Sainz lamented “Only three laps in FP1 because of the weather [when] everyone was looking to obviously catch up on what we lost in FP1 “We go into Saturday almost like a bit of a Sprint weekend because we will only have one practice session to get up to speed and have a good weekend “I’m going to have to hit the ground running tomorrow in FP3 make sure that I’m immediately on the pace and hopefully we can have still a good performance.” Albon and Lawson drop out of the points after being hit with penalties in Miami Sprint ‘You’ve got to get involved in the nappies’ – Horner offers advice to new dad Verstappen as he predicts how fatherhood will affect him ‘Racing is a pretty cruel business’ – Piastri left disheartened as Sprint strategy call sees Norris continue his ‘luck in Miami’ ‘I didn’t deliver’ – Norris laments struggle to maximise McLaren’s performance in Miami Lando Norris was satisfied with McLaren’s first day of running a newly-upgraded car at the Dutch Grand Prix but the Briton believes that Mercedes are likely to be the faster team during the weekend Amid mixed weather conditions in FP1 following early rainfall Norris topped the timesheets as the track dried throughout the session it was George Russell who set the pace for the Silver Arrows in dry but windy weather during FP2 while Norris logged the fourth fastest time Reflecting on how he had found the day’s running as F1 returned from its summer break I think Zandvoort’s a tough one to come back to straightaway just because it’s quick and it’s up and down A bit of progress needs to be made before tomorrow.” 2024 Dutch GP FP1: Ride onboard with Lando Norris for a lap of Zandvoort with the gyro-cam
 McLaren have added updates to the MCL38 for the event marking their first significant upgrade package since Norris’s debut Formula 1 victory in Miami back in May Asked how he was feeling about the remainder of the weekend in Zandvoort – and if he was expecting the Woking outfit to potentially be the strongest – Norris answered: “Probably not but we’ve not really brought any updates since Miami This weekend’s our first time trying to make a bit more progress with the car “[I’m] optimistic but I have no idea if it’s working or not but today was a reasonable day and we’re there or thereabouts Piastri – who ended FP2 in second place – is hopeful that McLaren's updates can help them to be "a little bit faster" Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri gave a similar take on Friday’s running at Zandvoort with the Australian – who ended FP2 in second place just 0.061s away from Russell – labelling it “a pretty solid day” “Our one-lap pace looked pretty good – I need to look at our long-run pace so I’m expecting it to be a pretty hard-fought weekend once again.” Sharing his thoughts on how the upgraded car had felt out on track It doesn’t feel massively different and it should be a bit faster and hopefully just makes us a little bit faster from now.” Dutch racer Nina Gademan will make her F1 ACADEMY debut this month joining the 2024 grid as the Wild Card entry for Round 4 in Zandvoort The 20-year-old will be in action in a Female Quotient-liveried car, as part of their landmark collaboration with F1 ACADEMY The #4 entry will once again be operated by reigning Teams’ Champions PREMA Racing READ MORE: F1 ACADEMY announces collaboration with The Female Quotient she earned her maiden rookie podium at the Thruxton Circuit she achieved the Karting Slalom Gold medal at the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games she took the leading rookie honours in the PTC Cup and finished second in the TB class of the 24 Hours of Zolder Gademan is a well-known e-sports content creator Speaking about the prospect of racing as the F1 ACADEMY Wild Card entry in Zandvoort Gademan said: “I believe the Wild Card entries present an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate what we are capable of in a field like F1 ACADEMY I am truly grateful for this chance and for the support I have received from the F1 ACADEMY and the PREMA Racing team “I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to The Female Quotient for their support of the Wild Card initiative in Zandvoort I will give my utmost to showcase my abilities and make the most of this opportunity.” F1 ACADEMY: Chambers drives off into the distance for maiden win Gademan becomes the third Wild Card entry of the season, with Courtney Crone and Reema Juffali taking to the track in Miami and Jeddah FACTS AND STATS: Piastri secures McLaren’s first victory hat trick in over 25 years Haas is currently unable to take its cars and equipment away from the Dutch Grand Prix as former sponsor Uralkali awaits receipt of an overdue refund payment believed to total $9million with the Russian firm having gone through court to seize the F1 team’s assets Cars and equipment were evaluated with bailiffs and police in the pitlane at Zandvoort on Thursday evening after Uralkali claimed last month that Haas had missed a July deadline for the refund of a cancelled sponsorship agreement Following a Swiss arbitration court hearing in June it was ruled that Haas should refund Uralkali part of its sponsorship payment made for 2022 prior to its title deal being cancelled in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a Formula 1 car also promised to the company While the court stated that Haas was within its rights to terminate the deal it also said that the American-owned squad could only keep a portion of the $13million sponsorship balance paid for the campaign Haas was therefore ordered to give back the remainder of the sponsorship payment that went beyond 4 March 2022 Sources told Motorsport.com that Uralkali believed no effort had been made to issue the refund until it sought to seize Haas’ assets in Zandvoort Haas insists the payment was made on Friday evening with owner Gene Haas saying on Sunday afternoon that “everything is now sorted” it is understood they had not been deposited into an account in the Middle East due to weekend delays Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images While it was agreed that Haas’s participation in the Dutch Grand Prix could proceed as normal the team’s equipment is unable to depart the Netherlands It is understood the payment was sent via the Middle East because Haas had initially said it had to be sure that any transaction fully complied with sanctions that have been imposed on various Russian companies A statement on Friday said: “Haas fully intends to pay to Uralkali all amounts due pursuant to the arbitration award and there is no dispute over the amounts owed “Haas has been working with its lawyers to ensure payment will comply with all relevant US “We will continue working with Uralkali in the coming days to resolve this matter definitively.” Uralkali did not accept the issue of sanctions as a reason for the delay in payment claiming on Sunday that the funds had still not been received and that they did not expect any notification of a deposit due to it being the weekend Is it also understood Uralkali is waiting on a logistics plan for how and when the F1 car it has been promised will also be delivered After Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished 11th and 18th, respectively, Haas’ trucks have been unable to leave for Monza, with the understanding the team will be free to proceed to Italy once confirmation of the payment comes on Monday. From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker. Receive exciting Motorsport news, updates, and special offers straight to your inbox. Make your voice heard with article commenting. Despite the Zandvoort event and Max Verstappen's popularity, a dark cloud has hung over the race for some time. The existing contract runs out in 2025. The current contract will be extended by one year, sources confirm to De Telegraaf, journalist Erik van Haren revealed. But the decision has been made - the grand prix in Zandvoort will disappear from the Formula 1 calendar after 2026. Organisers have decided that 2026 will be the final edition, with a sprint race. Over the past many months, Zandvoort circuit boss Robert van Overdijk has been warning that his negotiations with Formula 1 about extending the contract were difficult. Many contracts with circuits expire in 2025 and FOM will have to figure out how many races they still want in Europe, he said recently, adding that organisers were not in a position to pay more to keep hosting Formula 1. At the moment, the risks are too great, but of course we are doing everything we can to see if a race after 2025 is still possible, he said months ago. It is clear that the situation is precarious. And now, journalist van Haren says the bad news is all but official. The organisers of the highly praised race in Zandvoort have decided, after lengthy deliberation, that it is wise to bid farewell to the premier class of motorsport after 2026. This is confirmed by various sources, he said. Verstappen overcomes wet-weather chaos to make it a hat-trick of Dutch GP wins and equal Vettel’s victory record VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from a sensational rain-hit Dutch Grand Prix as Verstappen secures record-equalling win Get up to speed with everything you need to know about the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix Using the links above you can find the full weekend schedule including details of practice and qualifying sessions with details of how and where you can watch the race on TV or download the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix schedule to your mobile device Formula 1 returns to action this weekend as the Circuit Zandvoort plays host to the Dutch Grand Prix – and Pirelli have confirmed the tyres that will be in use throughout the event F1’s official tyre suppliers have chosen the C1 which is made up of 10 right-hand corners and four left-hand turns IT’S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we’re excited about ahead of the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix Drivers will get two sets of the hard tyre (marked white) as well as the green intermediate and the blue full wet “The Netherlands borders Belgium and we saw before the break how climatic conditions at these latitudes can change from one day to the next and even within the space of a day “The average temperature in Zandvoort in late August varies between 14°C and 20°C as was seen in last year’s race when [Yuki] Tsunoda ran 50 laps on the soft READ MORE: Contentious collisions, intra-team contact and a surprise win – The most dramatic moments of the 2024 season so far For more information about Pirelli’s F1 tyres, visit pirelli.com Verstappen ‘very happy’ with Miami pole position as he explains how he saved risky moment on final Qualifying lap AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from Qualifying for the Miami GP as Verstappen takes pole FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull close in on Lotus record as Verstappen faces ominous Miami Grand Prix stat Both Mercedes drivers looked quick from the off at Zandvoort They also looked strong in the dry second session Russell winding up on top of the timing sheet despite an early trip through the gravel Mercedes look very strong over one lap – which could bode well for them going into qualifying which has been their relative weakness this year WATCH: Ride onboard with Russell for the fastest lap of Friday in Zandvoort and we were near the front of the field on the timing screens We understand our car and that is making starting each weekend on the front foot much easier and that is making it much easier to find performance That was the case today and sets us up well for the rest of the weekend There’s still more time to find out for sure I didn’t get the most out of my lap on the soft compound tyre so that’s encouraging for qualifying We will go through the data on the long runs this evening and see if we can make further improvements overnight.” “It was good to get back in the car and into the swing of things with the first day of running here in Zandvoort It was difficult out there due to the windy conditions It is perhaps the windiest conditions I can remember driving an F1 car in over the past few years the car was performing really well and the updated floor we brought to Spa seemed to be working effectively The pack at the front seems to be quite close once again We expect to be facing another fascinating battle across the rest of the weekend for the podium spots it could all be very different tomorrow as the conditions likely change once again I’m excited to get back in the car tomorrow and see what we can do.” “Today was an encouraging start to the weekend The conditions in FP1 were particularly tricky with very strong winds and heavy rain making it difficult to get a good read on the updated floor we brought to Spa what we saw looks in line with expectations so we’ll continue the weekend with that fitted to both cars Across both FP1 and FP2 the car has been working well although it’s likely to be tight with Verstappen and the McLarens in qualifying as they all looked strong today We have a few areas we can improve in that regard but no doubt the others are in a similar position We can certainly find a bit of pace with tyre management and an improved balance but Norris looked very good this afternoon and we will need to take a step to get on his pace We’ll work hard overnight to find those gains; we’ve shown in recent races that we can be competitive and on the basis of today it looks like we will should be in the fight near the front tomorrow.” McLaren are well placed heading into the weekend and the car is in a strong position ahead of quali tomorrow so we’ll be working hard overnight as a team to get everything out of our package.” The pace looks pretty solid over one lap and the long run pace looks decent so far It’s nice to be back in the car and it’s always fun driving around here “Zandvoort today allowed us to test the car in all conditions going from the wet to the intermediate to the dry tyres in FP1 and then in FP2 we had good running on the soft and medium tyres to compare them with a view to their potential usage in the race not only for race preparation but also for gathering good data and performing checks on the aerodynamic upgrades we have this weekend We’ll now focus on maximising our performance for the rest of the weekend so we need to ready for anything – but day one in the Netherlands seems very encouraging.” Verstappen opted to sit out the early action in the wet FP1 session emerging just as the track was ready for intermediates which wasn’t the ideal start to his weekend the Dutchman soon got up to speed and went toe to toe with Norris late on for the fastest lap the Dutchman once again looked in the mix towards the front but certainly isn’t showing anyone a clear pair of heels here he struggled to spot his braking point down to Turn 1 in the gusty conditions locking up and running wide to finish further down the order in FP1 we didn’t get a lot of running in but the weather cleared up for FP2 and as a result we could see a little bit more where we were We didn’t quite have the pace on the long and short runs and at the moment there isn’t a clear answer on how to improve this This is where we have been the last few races so it isn’t a surprise but we need to work to find a little bit more form ahead of qualifying tomorrow.” “It was tricky conditions today between a wet FP1 and a dry FP2 We tested quite a bit out on track with set-up and it looks and feels a little bit better than the order shows from today I made a mistake and went off in Turn 12 so I lost a couple of tenths But overall we’ve got some work to do especially in the long run pace to catch the people ahead Qualifying will be important here so we need to maximise tomorrow.” Ferrari were the only team to opt for the medium tyres at the end of FP1 as the track started to dry out it was hard to get a representative read as to where they stood in the pecking order although Sainz’s P4 time certainly stood out But the Spaniard wasn’t able to repeat that sort of lap in FP2 having to sit out the majority of the session with a gearbox issue That leaves him without any laps on the soft tyre going into the weekend Leclerc’s session was more straightforward and he’ll be sharing his data with his team mate later on We don’t quite match the pace of our competitors in front but I think it’s better than what it looks like on the timesheets today We have work to do in order to be in a place where we can fight for the win "I will do everything to extract the maximum in qualifying but the gaps we are looking at for the moment are too big to do anything special then maybe we can fight for a good spot in qualifying otherwise I predict a difficult weekend for us." we weren’t able to run properly and unfortunately during FP2 we had a problem with the gearbox in the first run "Tomorrow we’ll try to make up for the time lost and build confidence around the track We have work to do to close the gap to the top." Aston Martin were one of the first teams to gamble on the move to slicks in the wet-dry FP1 session but having set their lap times early they tumbled down the order as the track continued to dry Their lap times in FP2 looked more representative with Alonso climbing into the top 10 and Stroll not too far back That puts them in a good position to push for Q3 slots tomorrow “It’s good to be back and it feels so fast after four weeks without driving a Formula 1 car It’s a fun track and the conditions were very difficult today with very high winds and some rain around in FP1 Through the corners you could really feel the wind but it was the same for everyone Tomorrow will be a little more unpredictable with the weather “It’s good to get back on track after a couple of weeks off This is a great circuit and we got some dry running in the second session which is valuable We worked through our run plans and learned a lot Tonight we’ll do our homework and see what we can improve ahead of qualifying tomorrow.” Williams are running a big upgrade package here and at first view it looks to have helped them climb up the order and repeated that trick in the second hour of practice With this track last year being one of their strongest the team seem full of confidence heading into the weekend – especially as Vowles has revealed they have even more upgrades to come in the next few races however FP1 felt a little stronger while we’ve been learning about our new aero package and update Everything seems to be pretty in line with where we expected it to be and the car doesn’t feel drastically different but that’s also what we expected but I think we need a bit more pace and there are definitely some areas we know need fixing the bigger issue is feeling a bit rusty and compiled with the wind it’s just about trying to get back into the groove.” “It’s hard to tell how the upgrades are performing with the wind being so strong making it feel unpredictable and tricky to drive Today’s really a day to get the rust off and feel comfortable in the car again after the summer break and we did that There are definitely some points to improve on tomorrow but we ticked off most of what we needed to do so we’ll focus on ourselves and aim to put the best car together come qualifying.” “The weather in FP1 didn’t really help us to get a first understanding of our upgrade package sandy track and wind gusts up to 90km/h made it a difficult session we made the most of it and we had a good session in FP2 There are definitely some points that we can improve overnight for tomorrow but we can already see that it is going to be very tight in the midfield It looks at the moment that we’ll start with a dry qualifying but rain is expected from around 1600hrs onwards so it could very quickly become a tricky afternoon.” Ricciardo’s quest for Zandvoort redemption got off a quiet start with the Aussie keeping out of trouble in the opening session Tsunoda also had a steady start to his weekend but in FP2 he managed to climb up the leaderboard and into the top 10 “It was windy today and we tried different compounds due to the weather conditions I think there’s a bit to find as we struggled a little bit more than anticipated especially in the afternoon where Yuki was a lot quicker on the hard tyres compared to me on the mediums It’s a fairly short lap around here and the field is really tight We’ll start to look at the setup tonight trying to make some adjustments and hopefully find something more ahead of tomorrow.” “We definitely had a good start to the second half of the season we just need a bit of fine tuning for qualifying tomorrow Considering we’re dealing with these kind of winds the car seems consistent and quite balanced so I felt confident straight away from FP1 With the track being so up and down with massive banking “A tricky morning with the weather and high winds we were a little bit cautious in FP1 and didn’t want to risk the car which then reflected on our position in the timesheets FP2 was a much better session performance wise Yuki had a bit of traffic on his quickest lap and Daniel’s not so happy with his balance he seemed to struggle a little bit with his rear end We’ve had plenty of good feedback and information to look at overnight and I’m sure we can improve for tomorrow.” Hulkenberg was the driver to struggle the most at the start of FP1 locking up and running through the gravel on numerous occasions With the wind gusts measuring 76kph at one point it could have been he just got the worst of the weather he was struggling with some sort of car issue – as he locked up again early on in FP2 spinning into the barriers and bringing out the red flags so it was left to Magnussen to explore what was possible in the upgraded VF-24 the Dane managing a solid top-10 position to lift the spirits of the team WATCH: Hulkenberg brings out red flags as he smacks into barriers during FP2 in Zandvoort very sudden rear lock event that I didn’t foresee and didn’t expect in the way that it happened It was definitely a wind gust that caught me out; I had a little more brake pressure than before but I didn’t brake later and two or three more circumstances tipped it over the edge and made it look quite dramatic it wasn’t a big impact and there was next to no damage but obviously the lost time is the prize that we pay The midfield – or second pack where we are – looked close together and compact so we’re definitely in the mix but I’ve made it harder for myself with less preparation time.” “The conditions aren’t necessarily representative as FP1 was wet but we got a little bit of running in the dry FP2 was good; I had good pace and a good feeling in the car so that’s positive These days it’s so close that if someone ran five or 10 kilos less or more fuel this car is quite different in certain areas There are still issues we want to improve but that’s normal.” but I think we managed the session well; that level of wind gust is extreme When we managed to run on inters and slicks It was dry for FP2 but Nico’s session was cut short unfortunately because he locked up Looking into what Kevin has done – both his quali sim and long run – he was pretty decent We’ve got fine-tuning to do tonight to improve a bit more but from Kevin’s side we got decent data and it was a good Friday.” Alpine started the day by announcing their driver line up for next year they had a quieter time of it in the session proper They ran a similar programme to the rest but it remains to be seen how much fuel they had in their car and thus Gasly at least climbed up the order in FP2 but the top 10 looks a stretch on current form where we have started slightly on the backfoot and need to find some improvements We will need to turn things around overnight and there is lots of work ahead of us before tomorrow to improve and get us to a better position We have seen some inconsistency in terms of our performance over the course of the last couple of races and we are prepared to put the work in We made quite a few set-up changes after Free Practice 1 so we will need to review where our lack of performance here comes from but we already have some pretty good clues as to what is required to improve so that we can be more competitive during Qualifying tomorrow Congratulations to Jack [Doohan] on the news of his race seat in 2025 he’s a top guy and he definitely deserves an opportunity to race in Formula 1.” “It’s been a pretty challenging first Friday back after the summer break here in Zandvoort The conditions were certainly tricky with the high winds and rain but the track did dry quite quickly I missed out on some running in Free Practice 1 and the feeling in the car in Free Practice 2 was not too great so I’m sure we will have a good look through everything tonight and see what we can improve It looks like the conditions will continue to be tough for the rest of the weekend That’s not a bad thing as I do quite like mixed conditions I am very happy for Jack after today’s announcement I’ve seen him evolve within the team over the last 18 months he’s very involved and it’s a great opportunity for him so I’m looking forward to continuing our work together as team-mates.” giving a good account of himself in the very difficult conditions a costly mistake would have been easy to make but he kept his copybook clean even racing Russell on his first out-lap.But he settled down after that and got plenty of running in he was called to the stewards to explain when he’d been released into the path of Ricciardo in the pit lane in FP2 which is never an ideal start to the weekend “Coming back to the car after a few weeks off and finding these blustery conditions was definitely tricky It was not easy to find the right balance today and it was difficult to find the rhythm you needed to get into the flow we have one more practice session tomorrow on top of the work we are going to do tonight: our job will be to find a bit more stability and that will translate into more performance We know we are still lacking something in terms of pace to be in the top ten but tomorrow the conditions will be difficult again and we need to focus on doing our part to get a better overall balance.” I would like to thank Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber and Ferrari for this opportunity The team was super welcoming to me right away and I also got to see some familiar faces as well It had been nearly a year since I last drove a Formula One car Zandvoort is possibly one of the most challenging racetracks and with today’s mixed conditions I needed to be on it straight away I can say I am happy with today’s performance: it’s been a good learning session despite the rain and strong winds I got stuck in some traffic towards the end which made me lose some time and made it difficult to put in a better laptime – I think I could have improved even further on the slicks had we had one extra lap and I am happy with how things have gone.” “It feels great to be back on track – and Zandvoort always brings good energy Today was quite a smooth day for us overall: the track and wind conditions were quite challenging but we still managed to complete two clean sessions that allowed us to collect valuable data and information we’ve seen that our chances are better when conditions are mixed compared to a fully dry track we’re hopeful for a good day that will allow us to seize our opportunities putting us in a good position for Sunday’s race.” “This first day was partially affected by the changing weather conditions so there was not much useful data to be gathered from the first session but much more was acquired in the second one we can say that all three dry compounds seem to be viable for use in the race With the track conditions and temperatures experienced in FP2 the C1 proved to be very competitive and consistent with the C2 not far off in terms of performance as predicted in simulations prior to the weekend with a difference of around eight to nine tenths between the Soft and the Medium and four tenths between the Medium and the Hard but not to the point of ruling it out as an option for Sunday’s race also because there was no sign of graining HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from FP2 in Zandvoort as Russell sets the pace while Hulkenberg crashes out “One interesting point will be seeing how the grip from the track surface evolves over the next two days It is meant to rain tomorrow morning which But the forecast is better for qualifying and for the race which should be run in similar conditions to those in FP2 although track temperature could be a few degrees higher.” FRIDAY DEBRIEF: Can Mercedes pose a threat to McLaren after Antonelli’s magical Miami lap What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Miami Tsunoda rues ‘poor communication’ after early Sprint Qualifying exit in Miami leaves him in P18 Doohan explains Sprint Qualifying ‘mess up’ that triggered frustrations over team radio McLaren driver Lando Norris stormed to pole position during qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix getting the better of Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and team mate Oscar Piastri with a spectacular Q3 effort Norris produced a blistering time of 1m 09.673s to beat Verstappen to the top spot by 0.356s with Piastri a tenth-and-a-half further back in third READ MORE: Norris surges to stunning pole ahead of Verstappen and Piastri during qualifying in Zandvoort There was drama earlier in the session when Lewis Hamilton just missed out on a spot in the pole position shootout the seven-time world champion having to settle for 12th on the grid with his final Q2 effort Hit go on the video player above to watch the highlights from qualifying ‘It just needs more time’ – Tsunoda explains ‘not easy’ process of adapting to Red Bull’s RB21 AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from first practice for the Miami Grand Prix Russell expands on Mercedes’ prospects in Miami as he suggests Silver Arrows now ‘third fastest team’ despite P2 in championship FP1: Piastri leads Leclerc and Verstappen during sole Miami GP practice session Here are the complete results from the qualifying session at the Dutch Grand Prix from the Zandvoort circuit Lando Norris denied the home crowd at Zandvoort its dream result as the McLaren driver snatched away pole position from Max Verstappen right at the chequered flag in qualifying The first runs in Q3 saw a close battle between the two McLarens and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen McLaren’s Oscar Piastri went quickest as he crossed the line first with a 1:10.193 with Verstappen just missing out by 0.029 seconds as he ran wide over the kerbing at Turn 13 But both were left over a tenth off the front as Lando Norris crossed the line set a 1:10.074 to go clear of both his rivals with a time some four-tenths of a second clear of Verstappen’s pole time from 2023 Mercedes’ George Russell slotted into fourth as he used older soft tyres for his first run as did Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fifth and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in sixth as the other four drivers making it through into Q3 opted for just one run on fresh tyres The second runs began with the leading drivers on a fresh set of tyres as Verstappen aimed to thrill his home crowd and snatch pole position away from the McLarens The Dutch driver duly delivered as he set a 1:10.029 to go quickest of all despite a big slide at Turn 12 But the jubilation of the crowd hadn’t even subsided before Norris broke their hearts as he smashed Verstappen’s time with a 1:09.673 to demote the Red Bull to second place The championship challenger duly took pole position ahead of the championship leader with Piastri claiming third place ahead of Russell Perez had a solid qualifying to place fifth in the second Red Bull with Leclerc in sixth ahead of the one-run Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin FULL REPORT – Dutch GP: Lando Norris storms to pole as Lewis Hamilton rocked by shock exit McLaren claimed a 1-2 in a straightforward second part of qualifying with Norris popping in a 1:10.496 to go 0.009 seconds clear of Piastri The top 10 looked like it would contain no surprises in the final minutes as the drivers from the leading five teams all made it through into Q3 based on their first runs – both McLarens But this changed rapidly in the final minute as several midfield drivers pumped in some very quick times Improvements from the likes of Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly moved them right up into the top 10 and dropped surprise names like Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton down into the drop zone and failing to improve sufficiently on their final runs With Sainz knocked out in 11th for Ferrari joining them on the sidelines were VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda and the two Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen With Stroll setting the pace in the first few minutes of the Q1 session it was Perez who came out on top at the end of Q1 as Red Bull used up two sets of soft tyres on the Mexican’s side of the garage With the track improving continuously through Q1 as the conditions improved from a wet and bleak morning Perez popped in a 1:11.006 at the end of the session to finish fastest ahead of Russell Perez was furious with Hamilton at the end of the flag calling for a penalty for the Mercedes driver after feeling he’d been blocked by Hamilton while on a flying lap – Perez branding Hamilton a “f**king idiot” and gesticulating at the seven-time F1 World Champion in the pitlane had been complaining about the grip of his car through the first run but recovered on his second to finish less than half a tenth off Perez while Sainz finished third ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton Eliminated were VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo in 16th The French driver was bewildered by his car’s handling calling it a “disaster” as he returned to the pits leading his Sauber teammate Zhou Guanyu in 19th while Logan Sargeant never set a time as Williams didn’t quite manage to get his car ready for the session following his hefty FP3 crash Read Next: Haas break paddock curfew as Nico Hulkenberg’s problems continue at Dutch GP © Planet Sport Limited 2025 • All Rights Reserved Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner admitted McLaren's car was "in a different league" in Zandvoort as Lando Norris secured a dominant Dutch Grand Prix victory In doing so the Briton finished 22.896s ahead of runner-up Max Verstappen – the biggest winning margin of the season – and reduced the deficit to the Dutchman in the drivers' championship to 70 points READ MORE: Piastri admits McLaren need to review key area after Dutch GP as he reflects on ‘disappointing’ weekend McLaren also reduced the lead in the constructors’ championship to just 30 points with Oscar Piastri's P4 bagging more points compared to Sergio Perez's P6 Red Bull look like having a real fight on their hands to win a third straight constructors’ title their car was in a different league today," Horner told Sky Sports F1 but you could see their pace was in a different league Verstappen couldn't live with the pace of Norris at Zandvoort I think we’ve learnt lots of lessons this weekend which will be valuable and a solid drive from Checo so yeah damage limitation with P2 and bounce back in Monza.” Red Bull were running upgrades in Zandvoort in the form of different mirror stays some halo modifications and a specific engine cover for this track – but none of these were major performance enhancers With McLaren’s upgrade package seemingly lifting them clear of the field Red Bull know they have work to do to stay competitive Verstappen: It was 'difficult to get the most' from the car at home Grand Prix “We need to understand where the deficit is I think we’ve learned quite a lot this weekend but you can see the pace they had at this track was outstanding so we need to understand how we can improve performance on our car,” Horner continued We still have a comfortable lead in the drivers’ but the constructors’ again another chunk of points has come off today We will have to respond and I’m confident we have the strength and depth in order to do that.” READ MORE: ‘It was discouraging’ – Perez concedes Red Bull need to ‘understand where pace has gone’ after being outclassed in Zandvoort While Horner wouldn’t be drawn on whether and when any upgrades might be arriving, Verstappen does remain 70 points ahead of Norris in the drivers’ championship But Monza this weekend will be another test of just how potent McLaren’s upgrades are and the extent to which Red Bull are now on the back foot Ontvang informatie over beschikbare tickets in je mail. On May 14, 2019, a historic announcement was made: after a long absence of more than 35 years, Formula 1 returns to Zandvoort. Max Verstappen had already been making waves in the premier class of motorsport for several years in 2019. The initial three-year agreement was extended by two years. Now, the organization of the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix has announced that the 2026 edition will be the final one. The agreement between the Dutch Grand Prix organization and Formula One Management has been extended by one year. This decision is the result of careful consideration and intensive consultations with Formula One Management (FOM). The Dutch Grand Prix will conclude at its peak, after four successful editions, with two fantastic races still to go. This marks the finale of an extraordinary chapter in Dutch sports history, significantly raising the bar for future events worldwide. “I am incredibly grateful for the work that the team at the Dutch Grand Prix have done in recent years. They raised the bar for European Grands Prix in terms of event spectacle and entertainment, supported the development of young talent by hosting F2, F3 and our F1 Academy series, and have also pioneered sustainable solutions that have inspired our events around the world as we drive towards being Net Zero by 2030. “All parties positively collaborated to find a solution to extend the race, with many options, including alternation or annual events on the table, and we respect the decision from the promoter to finish its amazing run in 2026. I want to thank all the team at the Dutch Grand Prix and the Municipality of Zandvoort who have been fantastic partners to Formula 1.” “The Dutch Grand Prix is the result of a unique collaboration between SportVibes, TIG Sports, and Circuit Zandvoort, who shared the ambition of bringing the race back to the Netherlands. What we have achieved so far is undoubtedly a huge success. The appreciation from our visitors, drivers, and teams has been unprecedented, and we are incredibly proud of that. “While today’s announcement signals the end of a monumental era, we are confident there is plenty more for fans to look forward to at the Dutch Grand Prix in 2025 and 2026, including F1 Sprint in 2026. “Now we are fully focused on the 2025 edition and look forward to the sprint race in 2026. Demand for tickets is strong again, and interest from the business sector is doing very well, just like in previous years. The 10,000 available business hospitality packages for 2025 are nearly sold out.” The very last edition in 2026 will undoubtedly be a special finale, not least because of the addition of F1 Sprint that year. The exact date for the final edition in 2026 will be announced by Formula 1 throughout the next year. In 2025, the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix will take place from August 29 to 31. Ticket sales for 2025 have already started. Get your tickets now for the 2025 edition via our ticketshop. Information about ticket sales for 2026 is expected in the spring of 2025, with ticket holders from the 2025 edition receiving priority for purchasing tickets for the final edition. Get your tickets Download nu de officiële Dutch GP app en zet jezelf op pole position! Norris fights back against Verstappen to end home hero’s run of Dutch GP wins VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action from the Dutch Grand Prix as Norris beats Verstappen to victory with stunning drive Get up to speed with everything you need to know about the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix which takes place over 72 laps of the 4.259-kilometre Circuit Zandvoort on Sunday or download the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix schedule to your mobile device the F1 teams and drivers are raring to go again as the season resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix Max Verstappen has claimed victory at his home event in each year since its 2021 return to the calendar but do the odds favour the Red Bull driver this time around 188BET’s odds are presented in decimal form: for every $1 wagered you would win the figure represented by the odds; so While Verstappen has often led the way in this category the picture has changed as the season has developed; seven different drivers claimed a win across the first 14 races meaning that predicting who will clinch P1 each weekend has become more of a challenge given his impressive run of consecutive victories at Zandvoort during the last three years the odds favour Verstappen to continue this streak The reigning world champion will be keen to return to the top spot after not taking a win since the Spanish Grand Prix in June while Lando Norris is also tipped to be in with a high chance of sealing his second F1 victory Can Verstappen get back on the top step of the podium in front of his home fans Verstappen scored his first pole position since Round 11 in Austria last time out at Spa-Francorchamps but an engine penalty saw him take a 10-place grid drop The Dutchman is favourite to claim P1 on the grid again this weekend who was the pole-sitter at the penultimate round before the summer break in Hungary With increasingly fine margins amongst the field Norris’ McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri is in the mix while the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could also pose a challenge following their good run of form recently THIS WEEK IN F1: 10 tricky quiz questions on the latest F1 news and Dutch GP history Piastri and Norris both have good odds for being in the fight to take pole position Despite both missing out on a top-three finish in Belgium Verstappen and Norris again have the best odds when it comes to who will stand on the podium at Zandvoort Hamilton and Russell – who all finished within the leading three positions at Spa-Francorchamps before Russell’s subsequent disqualification which promoted Leclerc – are also in with a decent shout while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez have slightly more distant odds READ MORE: The candidates who could unseat Verstappen and Red Bull in the final 10 races of 2024 Hamilton has stood on the podium at four of the last five races It’s the usual suspects from the leading four teams who have the best odds for a top-six finish but who else could potentially squeeze their way in should the day go in their favour with the Aston Martin driver having returned to the points last time out at Spa The next most likely candidate is Nico Hulkenberg While Haas faced two challenging rounds in Hungary and Belgium Hulkenberg scored P6 finishes prior to that in Austria and Great Britain FORM GUIDE: Which teams and drivers are looking hot at the halfway mark of the season? Could Alonso grab some decent points for Aston Martin at Zandvoort In terms of who else could take home points in the Netherlands with a top-10 result Lance Stroll is rated as having a chance after just missing out in Belgium add to the team’s tally in Great Britain and Hungary The RB duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are also worth keeping an eye on as the squad look to hold onto P6 in the constructors’ standings where they currently sit on 34 points with just a seven-point advantage over Haas in P7 PALMER: Five key questions I’m looking forward to seeing answered after F1’s summer break Ricciardo and Tsunoda will be hoping to keep RB ahead of Haas in the constructors' standings After what has been a difficult run of races Perez did at least score an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race at the Belgian Grand Prix It is his team mate Verstappen who has the best odds of doing so this weekend but – given the importance of every single point in an increasingly competitive field – it will be fascinating to see who takes this bonus in Zandvoort HALF TERM REPORT: Red Bull – Can the champions fend off a growing group of challengers as big names get set to leave? Perez scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the Belgian Grand Prix After a consistently strong run from both drivers during the first half of the season McLaren have put themselves firmly in the constructors’ championship battle having now closed the deficit to Red Bull to just 42 points the Woking outfit are favourites to take the biggest points haul this weekend while Red Bull will be looking to get Perez back in the fight at the front in order to boost their chances of staying ahead in the teams’ standings HALF TERM REPORT: McLaren – After a strong 2024 so far, can they learn from their errors and fight for the championship? the Dutch Grand Prix proved to be a dramatic affair thanks to the changing weather conditions that played out at Zandvoort The Safety Car made two appearances during the eventful race and the odds suggest that it could feature again this time around The Safety Car featured in the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix amid changing weather conditions Reliability has continued to be strong across the field in 2024 There was just one retirement last time out in Belgium with Zhou Guanyu’s race over after only a few laps following a hydraulic issue for the Kick Sauber was later disqualified from the results due to his car being underweight meaning that the final classification featured 18 drivers Can the majority of the pack make it to the finish line this weekend This category is another that has seen some big changes as the year has progressed, with the margins becoming ever finer. Hamilton was just half a second behind Russell when they crossed the line at Spa – prior to Russell’s disqualification – while Piastri was only 1.173s behind the leader. Will there be another thrillingly close finish at Zandvoort? Zandvoort is a special circuit on the calendar, with its big undulation, high speeds and sweeping corners. It can see a real test for the tyres, as they are under plenty of stress, especially during the banking found at Turns 3 and 14. The banking is about 18 degrees, which is double what is experienced at Indianapolis, and more than the 12 degrees we find in Jeddah. As a result, Pirelli are bringing the three hardest compounds they have; the C1, C2 and C3. Although it might look short and sweet from the outside, this circuit is also very demanding. Drivers will generate some significant G-force as they lap this track, especially in the braking into Turn 1 and later at Turn 11. Downforce is also high here, as well as lateral forces on both the driver and the car, with drivers experiencing about 5G of lateral forces at Turn 7. The tight and twisty nature also punishes mistakes, but can make overtaking quite the challenge. Last year’s event also saw a torrential downpour during the race, which resulted in some exciting wet–weather driving and the need for the intermediate tyres! Being by the beach means Zandvoort can occasionally be affected by sand making its way onto the track surface, as well as the changing wind direction. Its close proximity to Amsterdam also attracts big crowds as public transport makes for an easy and environmentally friendly choice to get to the track. Once you’re there, Zandvoort also lends itself to a festival atmosphere, with loud tunes and parties going on in every grandstand. Operating on legal authority, Dutch police and bailiffs entered the Formula 1 team's garages at the Dutch GP venue and formally seized the race cars, motorhome, trucks and all other equipment. Haas can continue to use the equipment throughout the weekend, but without paying back about $10 million to disgruntled former Russian sponsor Uralkali, the team is barred from departing the country. They must inform us where all the equipment is, said Dutch lawyer Jurjen de Korte, representing Nikita Mazepin's former sponsor. If they do not comply, they are committing a criminal offense. Haas was ordered to pay back sponsorship money in a Swiss arbitration case in June, relating to the team's decision to axe its deals with Uralkali and Mazepin at the outbreak of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. They had time to comply, the lawyer added, but they were playing hide-and-seek. The ball is in their court, they have to find a solution. Haas said in a statement that it intends to repay the money, but is struggling to comply with complex anti-Russian sanctions. We will continue to work with Uralkali in the coming days to finally resolve this matter, said the Gene Haas-owned team. Team boss Ayao Komatsu said on Friday: We're not disputing it whatsoever, but it's a complicated process to transfer the funds across. If Haas cannot quickly find a solution, the team could sit out next weekend's Italian GP - a breach of its contracts with Formula 1. Uralkali sounded totally unsympathetic in its own press statement. This is the expected consequence of Haas' refusal to obey the ruling of arbitrage awarding payment and a race car to Uralkali, the Russian fertiliser company insisted. There are not now and never have been any sanctions issues preventing Haas from fulfilling its obligations. Nevertheless, they have gone unfulfilled, Uralkali added. We are delighted to hear that, following last night's visit from Dutch authorities, Haas is finally paying attention to the arbitral ruling. VideoRACE HIGHLIGHTS: All the action from the first Dutch GP in 36 years as Verstappen wins his home race News‘It’s an amazing day’ says Verstappen after retaking title lead with emotional home win Get up to speed with everything you need to know about the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix or download the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix schedule to your mobile device Here are the results from the first practice session ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix With intense winds and lashings of rain giving way to the sun breaking through and a drying track at Zandvoort it was an unpredictable hour of running for first practice for the Dutch Grand Prix The first 40 minutes of the first practice session at Zandvoort were held in very tricky wet and windy conditions with dramas on track for Nico Hulkenberg in his Haas as he struggled to get his car slowed down into the corners While the German driver had a few offs, he kept his car out of the barriers – as did Max Verstappen as he spun his Red Bull at Turn 12 to the enjoyment of the home fans in the grandstand With Pierre Gasly having gone quickest early on in his Alpine on the intermediate tyres the action started to ramp up in the final quarter-hour as with the track starting to dry out as the sun peeked through the clouds the drivers kept pumping in faster and faster times with Lando Norris enjoying his upgraded MCL38 to chip away at his time to a 1:12.818 Verstappen popped in a 1:12.523 to leapfrog ahead of Norris only for the British driver to respond again with a best time of 1:12.322 to end up two-tenths of a second clear of the Red Bull driver Belgian GP winner Lewis Hamilton reached the chequered flag with the third-quickest time of the session almost seven-tenths of a second down on Norris with Carlos Sainz in fourth having used the mediums for his dry tyre running with Alex Albon sixth for Williams ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren FULL REPORT – Dutch GP: Lando Norris strikes first against Max Verstappen in thrilling opening session Read Next: Red Bull Dutch GP upgrades revealed as McLaren unveil six-part update so it was no surprise to see both drivers make Q3 with ease They looked to be in a three-way fight for pole with Verstappen but Piastri couldn’t nail his final flying run when it mattered small mistakes on the second half of the lap costing him a place on the front row his final run was as close to perfection as you can get He grabbed a fourth career pole by a sizeable margin which is especially impressive at such a short track READ MORE: Norris hails ‘amazing’ run to Zandvoort pole but expects home hero Verstappen to ‘put up a good fight’ on race day It’s nice to be back starting the second half of the season with pole position The conditions today made it a little more challenging and with every lap you had to reassess how much more you could push and where the limits were so a big thank you to them for their hard work I'm sure Max will put up a good fight at his home race tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it and will work hard overnight to prepare with the team.” "The first half of the final lap was pretty solid and then the second half wasn’t quite what I needed The car has been very quick all weekend and I’m a little disappointed to not be on the front row I’ve got a very good race car underneath me though The pace did look good in the long runs and we’ve been pretty quick the last few weekends so get a good start and try to make up a couple of spots.” “A strong Qualifying session at Zandvoort with Lando and Oscar putting together competitive laps in every Quali session The car has been performing well in the many different conditions we’ve faced this weekend It’s well-suited to the characteristics of these kinds of tracks but we also see the upgrades we’ve brought this weekend helped to deliver a strong performance – so a big thank you to everyone at the factory who has contributed to that effort to design We’re now fully focused on preparation for the Dutch Grand Prix." Verstappen had conceded that his car was “too slow” after yesterday’s practice but he managed to find some impressive pace late on in Q3 to really take the fight to McLaren He improved massively on his second run in Q3 to heap the pressure onto Norris feeling he was impeded by Hamilton in Q1 and having to use a second set of tyres as a result he managed to bag a respectable fifth on the grid READ MORE: Verstappen ‘realistic’ about prospects for Dutch Grand Prix as he reflects on lack of pace during qualifying “I couldn’t quite fight for pole today but we are doing everything we can to make the car as competitive as possible it is not quite as close as we would have liked but we will see what happens tomorrow We are looking to optimise the balance of the car especially as it is very windy on the track but we will see how the car runs tomorrow and analyse the limited long runs we got yesterday In the past we have been very strong in the race It will also depend on the tyre degradation; we will need to see how much it will rain overnight and see how everything goes tomorrow it will be difficult to beat the McLarens but anything can happen in Formula 1 so we will see I will try my best tomorrow in front of my home crowd and we will see where we are.” but unfortunately my lap was compromised by Lewis [Hamilton] in Q1 and that harmed the rest of our session as then we only had one set of new tyres in Q3 but I think we have the pace and are going to be strong tomorrow We improved the car from some of the issues we had in the practice sessions The conditions have been tricky this weekend so it will be about maximising performance from the data we have Overall I think today with P5 was a solid result and we can fight from there with the people ahead The target for tomorrow will be to hopefully make up some places at the start and secure a good result.” It was very tricky for all the drivers in the wind today you get a snap and then in one corner you look bad and then on the next lap you look ok Our main focus is on tomorrow and let’s see if that pays off Max has put himself in a great position in tricky conditions top five matches his best result in quali here in Zandvoort and he even effectively lost a set of tyres in Q1 when he got into a bit of traffic with Lewis so he had to run another set and therefore couldn’t benefit from that in Q3 I think it is going to be an interesting race there’s a reason why it is the preferred position here but let’s see it is not that long a run into turn one so hopefully we get away well.” Mercedes looked to be in the mix with McLaren yesterday Hamilton had looked the pick of their drivers Russell struggling in Q1 and having to use a second set of tyres Hamilton unable to extract enough from his final run to even make it to the top 10 with fourth the best he could manage on a day where McLaren were just too good as he was handed a three-place grid drop for impeding Perez in Q1 and thus will start even further down the order than 12th We had been looking good throughout the weekend and in Q1 I couldn’t go any faster than I did on my final lap and that wasn’t enough to get us through I will push to get as many points as we can tomorrow and enjoy myself out there.” “It was a challenging qualifying session today we slipped back a little and ultimately that left us in P4 I think that was probably the maximum for us today It was very difficult to get the tyres consistently in the right window Lewis had great pace in Q1 but suffered from that in Q2 The conditions kept changing too so it was difficult to align everything to get the most out of the car Finding that sweet spot was definitely not easy The gap to the front was quite big today but I think we can have a better race tomorrow We will be looking forward and trying to get on the podium once again.” we had looked like we were close to the front of the field in qualifying the car was on a bit of knife edge It was hard for both drivers to get the most out of it consistently George likely got the most we could have hoped for today with P4 We look ahead to tomorrow now and will be aiming to move forward with both drivers in the race although it will be difficult to compete with the McLarens They looked very strong in FP2 so our fight will likely be to get on the podium.” Both drivers looked more competitive at times in the session than the results showed but we failed to get it together when it mattered The car hasn’t felt as good for either driver today We were suffering from understeer yesterday but today we were struggling for rear grip Our attention now turns to tomorrow’s race Our long run pace was reasonable yesterday and hopefully that will remain we will be looking to move forwards with both drivers The McLarens looked very strong on Friday so we may be looking at keeping George in the fight for the lower reaches of the podium we will aim to recover well and score as many points as we can.” having missed so much running in the dry on Friday He made it out of Q1 despite some worrying moments but he couldn’t do the same in Q2 – missing out by less than a tenth That left Leclerc as the only Ferrari in the top 10 but the Monegasque couldn’t get in the mix near the front They’ll be hoping their race pace can move them forward come tomorrow "We knew it would be a tough one today and we maximized our qualifying with P6 We are quite a bit off the pace of our competitors and we are working night and day as a team to close that gap "The target for me tomorrow will be to keep our position and bring as many points home as possible." "I’m obviously not happy with how things are going this weekend Before this session I’d hardly done any laps with the slick tyre so it was always going to be very difficult to do a perfect qualifying around this tricky track traffic around the high speed section didn’t help either and missing Q3 by less than a tenth hurts we are struggling with the car this weekend but points are given out tomorrow and I’ll try to do my best to recover." "We were expecting a tough weekend here in Zandvoort mainly because of the configuration of the track and we have not brought any upgrades this weekend we have secured a respectable position on the grid with Charles and we will have our chance to fight for good points tomorrow although a podium finish will be difficult unless something happens in front But it’s important to score as many points as possible because we have seen so far this season that teams can go up and down and when you have a difficult weekend like we are having here we must still try to get the best result we can There will be tracks that suit us better in the remaining races and we will also make progress with the car soon as he went into quali having been unable to do any laps on the Soft tyre yesterday and when the gaps are so small this is the result and he missed out on Q3 by less than a tenth I expect Carlos to get back on the pace quite early in the race tomorrow Tonight we will have a good look at what we can do to help him in terms of strategy and tyres." Aston Martin managed to get both cars into the top 10 shootout both drivers came out midway between the first and second runs completing just the one flying lap well before the track was at its best seventh and ninth is a decent effort for the team “I am happy with my Qualifying today and both cars in Q3 is a positive result for us It felt like a lottery sometimes out on track depending on how gusty it was I wasn't too comfortable in Q1 and Q2 but in the end I was happy with my lap in Q3 I felt like it was the maximum we could achieve today so we will need to execute a good race and battle hard to keep some fast cars behind us.” putting in a purple first sector and finishing that session in P4 I couldn't quite replicate that during my one push lap in Q3 though I was pushing hard but got a bit out of shape two cars in Q3 is a good result for the team The changes we made ahead of Qualifying have been positive and we managed the session well We have some faster cars behind us tomorrow but it can be tough to overtake here so we should be able to fight for some good points from P9.” “It's great to be back on track here in Zandvoort as we start the second half of the 2024 F1 season Variable conditions have kept us on our toes so far this weekend at this coastal location We've put together a positive qualifying session together this afternoon in a very close competition Both Lance and Fernando drove really well to get both cars through into Q3 It is always our target to get both cars starting in the Top 10 and we've achieved that today Lance in particular had a monster lap in Q2 to secure the fourth fastest time It will be a long race tomorrow but from P7 and P9 we can race to bring home a strong points finish in front of this wonderful crowd and electric atmosphere.” They had to watch Sargeant’s heart-in-mouth crash in FP3 the American thankfully walking away from a very big impact his car caught fire and that left the team with too big a repair job to get Sargeant out for qualifying It also means most of their sizeable upgrade package is broken beyond repair but at least they can gather data on that from Albon’s car Albon gave them plenty of laps to gather said data as he made it all the way to Q3 to record his best qualifying of the season there was more bad news to come when he was later disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement "I’m really happy with P8 and that our upgrades have helped us secure this position It’s been very windy and gusty out there and it seems like if you were 10 seconds behind another car they could have a completely different wind to you and it was halves of seconds that were in the wind We’ve made a big step with the weight as well as the aero upgrade and it’s not the complete package either with more to come soon The car felt strong and got better on each lap so it’s great to get this result in these conditions today and to see the upgrades working well so a big thank you to the team for working hard to have the updates ready "It was a small mistake with a big consequence There’s a lot to fix on the car so I feel for everyone working on it tonight to get it ready for tomorrow go again and try and have a good race." After Logan crashed in FP3 the team gave it their best to get the car ready for Qualifying but unfortunately there was simply too much to do Alex had a great afternoon with the car performing well and solid runs in Q1 and Q2 that got him into Q3 we opted for one run at the end and qualified in P8 He is in a great position tomorrow to score points but it will be a hard fight as it is so tight in the midfield The weather should be stable and dry tomorrow which will hopefully make it a great race for the fans." Gasly topped FP3 – albeit in a very unrepresentative session thanks to the red flags But the Frenchman carried that confidence into qualifying and made it all the way to the top 10 complaining heavily about his car but without going into any specifics as to why it was so bad to drive on what proved a difficult day for many “It has been a disappointing weekend so far I have been struggling with the car set-up here no matter what the conditions were and just had very poor grip I was just not able to put a quick enough lap together today We need to ensure we put ourselves in a solid position and that we can keep the positive momentum going from before the summer break We will be in a difficult position on the grid tomorrow to get to where we want to be considering I will start from P17 and the nature of the track here in Zandvoort we can extract some useful data from the running today learn from it and give it our all tomorrow where we aim to be more competitive.” it was clear that we would have a challenge on our hands to progress through Q1 and into Q2 We almost extracted the maximum from the car We missed a little bit of lap time in Q3 but we’re inside the top 10 and we have put ourselves in a good position to fight for points in the race We know we have a battle tomorrow with Lewis [Hamilton] and Carlos [Sainz] starting behind us It’s going to be a tough race but we will be ready for it We just need to try and hang onto some of the cars starting ahead of us If we can score points that will be great and that is the aim.” “We have made a good step forward since yesterday’s Practice We’ve built positive momentum through the weekend where we have one car reach Q3 and in contention to score points in the race Our competitiveness is in line with previous races where we brought upgrades to the car and we must keep learning and keep developing in order to continue progress While we’ve seen some interesting conditions over the past few days here in Zandvoort We will assess our options on strategy in order to give ourselves the best chance to score points Our eyes are firmly forwards and racing our closest rivals.” RB haven’t looked particularly quick here all weekend so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Ricciardo exit at the first time of asking Tsunoda at least saved the team’s blushes by making Q2 but at least their main championship rivals Haas didn’t manage to get a car into the top 10 either FACTS AND STATS: A fourth career pole for Norris as McLaren bag their first at Zandvoort for 40 years “It was definitely tricky out there in a windy day and with generally tough conditions It was really hard to put a clean lap together in qualifying and I just felt that I was probably struggling a little bit more than maybe some others We found things in the setup last night that were encouraging coming into today we were not quick enough and just very much on a knife edge I was sliding with the rear out of some turns so I had to take a bit of margin but in doing that we were slow because I couldn’t push as much as I would have liked to and that is where I felt I couldn’t get the lap out of it Being out in Q1 doesn’t help ahead of tomorrow as it’s a narrow circuit and not one of those notorious for easily overtaking it feels like we stepped down quite a lot from FP2 but for whatever reason we lacked quite a lot of pace compared to what we had It’s not too bad of a place to start to score points the last two days has been very inconsistent weather and we saw from last year in the race anything can happen “The first qualifying runs for both drivers fell below our expectations in terms of lap times With some small changes to aero balance and tools settings we made a step forward with the balance of Yuki’s car for Q2 enabling him to extract more from the tyres but even with this step and the final lap looking very strong we were missing just over 0.1sec in the final corners of course we will review if another step in the direction taken for Q2 could have helped as every small detail matters when qualifying lap times are so close so if we can get our cars moving forwards early towards the ones in front of us we should be able to find ourselves at the front of the midfield and take any opportunities that present themselves.” Hulkenberg’s miserable weekend continued in FP3 when he managed to hit the barriers for the second time Whatever was going on with his brakes at least seemed solved by the time the dry qualifying session rolled around just 0.080s separating the German and Magnussen with Haas lacking the pace to challenge for the top 10 “It was tough in quali and the wind really picked-up again in the afternoon but it was the first clean run I’d had this weekend Every other session I’ve had has been interrupted and it’s been a very difficult build-up to qualifying I’ve produced good clean laps and that was actually pretty decent I’m not too unhappy with how qualifying went but obviously you always have the feeling that because we missed so much yesterday Tomorrow’s going to be challenging as I didn’t have much practice so I’ll just have to see how the car feels I think we had a feeling we’d be slightly better We fell at the rear of that little group between P10 and P15 unfortunately so it’s still possible to do something tomorrow but it will require good pace hopefully things swing our way and we’ll get an opportunity “The qualifying result was obviously very disappointing Kevin had reasonably good preparation throughout the practice sessions and his first Q2 run was good Nico was on the backfoot because he went off several times during practice so we ran Nico on three new sets of tyres in Q1 to get him started I feel like he was so much on the backfoot and with everyone in qualifying being so tight if you’re that far behind you have no chance I think the cut-off around Q3 is where we should be so I don’t think we’ve maximised our performance It’s tricky for the race as it’s difficult to overtake here but we’ll work overnight to see what we can do tomorrow.” They propped up the field with Sargeant not taking part Bottas winding up a tenth ahead of his team mate Neither driver has a contract secured for next season but this isn’t the kind of result that could turn heads They will hope for better in the race tomorrow “When you look at the results from today’s qualifying it’s clear that it’s not where we want to be – we want to keep making progress: this weekend has proved tricky for us so far and today was no exception the car had felt better in less breezy conditions it amplified our weaknesses and inconsistencies despite some traffic at the end of the lap so we won’t give up and we will go in fighting We know it will be hard to climb to the points especially with overtaking being difficult the car has been feeling good and it felt like things were coming together for me We noticed a lack of performance in high fuel runs yesterday so we made some setup changes to address that; however it looks like the direction we took resulted in a slower single-lap pace – something we definitely need to investigate I wasn’t able to push the car as much as I wanted and started struggling with my tyres after turn three on each lap: we’ll need to keep analysing and addressing our issues to be better prepared for tomorrow While this hasn’t been our track in the past as a team we’ll keep working hard to get the most out of tomorrow’s race.” “We experienced a day in which conditions changed significantly between FP3 and qualifying FP3 was a session with little on-track action as we spent most of the time in the garage following the red flag before making a few laps on Intermediate tyres under wet conditions we weren’t able to find a good balance throughout the lap and we weren’t able to extract the needed performance from our car We need to analyse why we weren’t able to keep up with track evolution from FP3 and why we struggled so much with corner balance in sectors two and three we have to start in a similar position to where we were in the last two races how to find the optimal balance on track configurations that feature a mix of low- and medium-speed corners as well as why we’re seeing inconsistent performance across different conditions Tomorrow’s starting positions are definitely difficult but we’ll do everything to try and grab any opportunity that may arise It’s not the end of the weekend – but a difficult day and we’re here together to overcome the situation for tomorrow.” “It all looked very closely matched during two free practice sessions and the first two parts of qualifying Norris made a step forward which put pole out of reach of his competitors with a fantastic lap: 356 thousandths is a very significant advantage on a track that is only a little over four kilometres in length 'It was frustrating' – Hamilton opens up on tense Miami radio messages during Ferrari strategy debate Andrea Stella and Zak Brown had nothing but praise for Lando Norris after he stormed to take his second win of the season in a remarkably dominant fashion crossing the line more than 20 seconds ahead of rival Max Verstappen The British driver lost the advantage of qualifying on pole as Verstappen swept past him at the race start but he overtook the Dutchman later on track and built up an insurmountable lead that saw him take an assertive win With team mate Oscar Piastri narrowly missing out on the podium in P4, McLaren have now cut their deficit to Red Bull in the constructors’ standings down to just 30 points with nine races still to go The Woking outfit brought a package of upgrades to Zandvoort which significantly helped their performance but it is as yet unclear whether they can replicate that dominance at other tracks Norris dominated to take the second F1 win of his career McLaren Team Principal Stella said that Norris’s win was “positively unexpected” “We would have never thought that coming to Zandvoort which has been a difficult venue for us in the past we could put together such a strong performance in qualifying and then confirm this in the race,” he explained “I think he has just proven the level of competitiveness he can pull off “He’s been absolutely faultless this weekend and a little bit of a shame for Oscar because he had the performance to be definitely part of the podium and I think he had the performance to put Max under some pressure he got stuck behind Leclerc and he couldn’t overtake.” McLaren have had at least one of their drivers finish on the podium at each of the last 11 races Norris’s victory marked the largest winning margin for any race this season as no one could find a way to close down the gap to the 24-year-old ending Verstappen’s streak of home race wins “[The margin] was pretty awesome,” McLaren CEO Brown told Sky Sports F1 “Lando drove perfectly and the team did a great job We were close to getting both on the podium but that was a big win with fastest lap at the end “We knew we were fast all weekend so I’m not shocked but I guess I’m pleasantly surprised at the size of the gap Once Lando got in clean air he controlled it pretty easily so it was nice to see him pass on the track because around then we were starting to think about pit stop strategy and undercut/overcut but next thing we know he flew past him and pulled away He definitely was able to control this race Become part of the largest racing community in the United Kingdom Circuit Zandvoort has been a fixture on the F1 calendar since 2021 - however F1 has confirmed a one-year extension with the Dutch Grand Prix until 2026 - after which Zandvoort track director Robert van Overdijk informed Dutch media on Wednesday morning that the race would leave the schedule in two years The Dutch Grand Prix has been a popular event in the European country with Max Verstappen's rise in popularity hugely contributing to the sellout crowds Zandvoort has drawn in The track will host its final round in 2026 under a new set of technical regulations - but will not feature in the 2027 season and beyond “I am incredibly grateful for the work that the team at the Dutch Grand Prix have done in recent years,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.  and we respect the decision from the promoter to finish its amazing run in 2026.  “I want to thank all the team at the Dutch Grand Prix and the Municipality of Zandvoort who have been fantastic partners to Formula 1.” Verstappen was victorious in the first three Zandvoort races after its F1 return with Lando Norris triumphing at this year's event Circuit director van Overdijk revealed the final edition of the Dutch Grand Prix in 2026 will be held under the sprint format and we are incredibly proud of that,” he said We have decided to go out on a high with two more incredible Dutch Grands Prix in 2025 and 2026.” Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on a chaotic Qatar GP and look ahead to the season finale in Qatar. Max Verstappen's feud with George Russell is a key discussion, as is Lando Norris' penalty. Comments made by Toto Wolff on the FIA are also looked into.Rather watch the podcast? Then click here! Sign up for the daily digest and/or weekly newsletter and we'll make sure that you are fully up to date with the latest news from the Formula 1 world Find the latest F1 news and news from other motorsport series at RacingNews365.com the world's leading independent F1 website providing daily F1 coverage Check out the 2025 F1 calendar for an overview of all the races with extensive background and real-time information.  Follow RacingNews365 on your favorite social media channels I agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies to serve relevant advertising and improve my service Pay to read The Race without adverts or cookies used for personalised ads By logging in, you agree to our use of third-party and analytics cookies to enhance your experience and improve our services. For more details, please review our Privacy Policy The Haas Formula 1 team can now send its equipment to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix having obtained clearance to depart the Netherlands after resolving its legal dispute with former sponsor Uralkali Haas ran the risk of having its F1 cars seized by Dutch authorities and criminal charges being brought against the team if it tried to leave the country without confirmation of a multi-million dollar repayment to the Russian fertiliser company that sponsored Nikita Mazepin’s brief F1 career Uralkali confirmed it had received payment “in full” (including interest and fees) and “collected the race car owed to us under the terms of the sponsorship agreement” Uralkali said it has it had “notified Dutch authorities they may release Haas’ assets from arrest as an interim measure and Haas is free to take them out of the Netherlands” A Haas spokesperson also confirmed the team’s trucks have been given clearance to depart the Netherlands and “make their way to Italy immediately” for next weekend's race at Monza Uralkali took legal action against Haas in the Netherlands after failing to receive a repayment of money paid to the team before its title sponsorship was abruptly terminated by Haas in early 2022 a Swiss arbitral tribunal ordered Haas to refund Uralkali a significant amount of money that had already been paid when Haas cancelled the deal and dropped Mazepin on the eve of the 2022 season Haas was also ordered to deliver Uralkali a car from the 2021 season Uralkali and its legal representatives did not seek to disrupt Haas's participation at Zandvoort where its cars competed and finished 11th and 18th but police and bailiffs were present at the track on Thursday evening to assess the value of the goods on-site Haas was also instructed that it would face serious consequences if it left the country without repaying what was owed - which Haas accepted and pledged to resolve as soon as it could The Race understands Haas initiated a payment on Friday likely from its UK-based F1 company to a third-party account outside of Russia Please accept marketing cookies to enable YouTube videos.