Sunday’s race will be the sixth and final Formula 1 visit to Circuit Zandvoort since the track returned on the calendar in 2021. This weekend closes the book on one of the most atmospheric stops on the schedule. The circuit’s deal with F1 runs out at the end of year, and after only a single-season extension was agreed in December 2024, no longer-team renewal followed. F1 comes back from its summer break to a Dutch Grand Prix that is bidding the sport farewell.
What to know about the Circuit before the Dutch Grand Prix
Zandvoort first opened in 1948. It was built through the dunes of the Dutch coast on a mix of permanent track and public record. F1 first raced there in 1952. The championship left in 1985 and did not return until 2021. This 36-year absence finally ended then.
The layout that greets the grid this weekend is short, fast and famously banked, with Tarzan Corner, the tight right-hander at the end of the pit straight, doing most of the passing work. It is wide enough for two cars to run side by side into the corner. However, the margins either side are unforgiving gravel.
Every edition of the race held since the circuit’s return has been won from pole position. This, in itself, tells a story about how hard the rest of the lap is to overtake on. Beyond Turn 1, drivers use the full width of the track through a sequence of quick corners that leave little room to recover from a mistake. This is part of why qualifying carries so much weight here.
The Story heading into this Weekend
F1 returns from the summer shutdown with Kimi Antonelli holding a 50-point championship lead over Lewis Hamilton. He also has a 59-point cushion over his Mercedes teammate George Russell, after the teenager converted a grid penalty into a podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris took his first win of the season in Budapest. Meanwhile, his teammate, Oscar Piastri suffered a technical DNF in the very same race. McLaren arrive at this Dutch Grand Prix having found real form after a difficult start to the year. Norris’ win keeps their championship hopes alive even with the gap back to Mercedes is still substantial.
Honda’s new-specification power unit makes it debut this weekend with Aston Martin. This arrives alongside further chassis upgrades that build on the 16-part package introduced in Hungary. Aston Martin’s deficit to the pace-setters had shrunk to just over two seconds a lap in Budapest. This is down from more than five seconds at Silverstone and Spa.
Honda’s trackside chief Shintaro Orihara has said the manufacturer has hit its internal performance targets with the revised engine. The catch is that this is also a Sprint weekend, Zandvoort’s first. This leaves Honda and Aston Martin with a single free practice session to evaluate the new package before Sprint Qualifying gets underway.
What happened at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix
Piastri controlled last year’s race from lights to flag, converting pole position into a dominant win that stretched his championship lead over Norris to 34 points. Norris ran second for most of the afternoon. McLaren looked set for another 1-2 until an oil leak for Norris forced him to DNF. This promoted Max Verstappen to P2 in front of his home crowd. It also handed rookie Isack Hadjar his first F1 podium in third.
Ferrari’s weekend fell apart in two separate incidents. Hamilton crashed out at Turn 3 on lap 23. Charles Leclerc was later collected by a young Antonelli at the same corner, leaving Ferrari without a single point on the day. It was, by any measure, one of the most chaotic afternoons of the 2025 season. It was also a reminder of how quickly a result here can unravel.
Weather for the Weekend
The forecast for this year’s race points to a much cooler weekend than the heatwave much of Europe has just come through. Showers are expected to roll in from the sea on Thursday evening and continue into Friday. A risk of a thunderstorm overnight and further rain into Saturday’s Sprint session is possible. Temperatures are likely to sit around 19 degrees Celsius with a moderate northerly wind.
Sunday looks like the better day of the weekend by some distance. A lingering shower in the morning should clear ahead of the race, with sunshine and highs in the low-to-mid twenties expected once lights out arrives.
A final Farewell: Zandvoort’s last Grand Prix
Whatever happens on track, the weekend belongs to the Orange Army. Verstappen has won this race three times in a row. With Zandvoort’s future off the calendar after this year, Sunday may be his last chance to win at home in front of the crowd that has turned this circuit into one of the loudest on the calendar.
Mercedes and McLaren currently have more raw pace. A maiden Antonelli win or a repeat Norris win at this Dutch Grand Prix would write a very different final chapter for the venue. Either script gets the same send off: whistles, orange smoke and a circuit that will not go quietly into its farewell.
Featured Image Credit: Dutchgp.com
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