After 35 years away, the Dutch Grand Prix makes its glorious return to the Formula One calendar this weekend and Lewis Hamilton has a tough task ahead of him at Zandvoort in his battle to capture a record-breaking eighth World Drivers’ Championship.
The Brit will face a partisan crowd of up to 70,000 fans on Sunday as he finds himself firmly in the back garden of his closest rival Max Verstappen. Last week’s Belgian GP was something of an anti-climatic restart to the season after the summer break, courtesy of some bad weather, but the Dutchman still managed to shorten the gap between the two in the standings to just three points.
Could we see a turning point in the title race? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of another thrilling few days on the circuit.
Where
Located west of Amsterdam, Zandvoort returns to the fold for the first time since 1985. The track first hosted a race in 1958 and went on to do so 29 more times before it was pulled from the calendar. With Verstappen vying to become F1’s first Dutch world champion, it’s return feels particularly fitting.
When
Friday (UK time)
Practice 1: 10.30am-11.30am
Practice 2: 2pm-3pm
Saturday
Practice 3: 11.00am-12.00pm
Qualifying: 2pm
Sunday
Race: 2pm
How To Watch
Sky Sports F1 will show every practice session, qualifying and the race. Channel 4 will show highlights across the weekend.
What They Say
Verstappen: "It will be special to have a race in the Netherlands in front of my home crowd but also as a driver it's a good challenge to go to a new circuit and find the limit in an F1 car.
"It was amazing to see so many fans supporting us in Austria and Belgium and I hope we can put on a good show for everyone in the grandstands this weekend.
"It might be a little hard to overtake on but for single lap performance I think it's going to be rewarding.
"The qualifying laps will be very quick there so any mistakes will be really costly.
"After the race was cancelled last year, this year will be even more special and of course it would be amazing to win on another home circuit in front of the Orange Army." [Sky Sports]
Verstappen: 11/10
Hamilton: 5/4
Bottas: 16/1
Perez: 16/1
Leclerc: 33/1
Norris: 33/1
