Racing Lines
THE LATEST STORIES FROM THE PADDOCK
MCLAREN
THE TITLE FIGHT RESUMES
For the two McLaren drivers who are the clear favourites for the title this season, the summer break is likely to have been a welcome spell of time off before the resuming hostilities, even if the battle hasn’t been particularly hostile so far.
Oscar Piastri arrives in Zandvoort with a nine-point advantage over team mate Lando Norris, but it was Norris who won last time out in Budapest and also delivered a very strong performance to dominate last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, winning by over 20 seconds as Piastri ended up fourth.
But there has been another clear step forward from the Australian in his third season in F1, and there is often little to choose between the two McLaren drivers in terms of pace. Who comes out on top in the first race after the break is likely to be down to small details once again, and in such a close fight you never know how important any given weekend could end up proving.
Norris is heading into the Dutch Grand Prix having won three of the past four races. But he doesn't think this necessarily means this will set him up for success in Zandvoort, "Having two good races doesn't mean I'll have a third one. You are racing the best drivers in the world, the cars are different - there are more variables in our sport."
For the Brit, racking up the race wins is all about confidence, "I would never say I have good momentum, but confidence - does it set you up for the next weekend? I would say yes."
RED BULL
A PARTY CROWD HOPING FOR SOME MAGIC FROM MAX
Max Verstappen always enjoys huge support at his home race, with a sea of orange greeting him, along with a raucous atmosphere on the North Sea coast.
"It brings a smile on my face, seeing that amount of orange [here] is very special", Max said of his unmatched support at this Grand Prix. He even showed a bit of envy towards his supporters this weekend, "It's not only about the driving, there is quite a bit of a party going on across these three days - unfortunately not for me! But [the fans] seem to have a great time..."
While those fans may have arrived with a sense of expectation in previous years, this time around it is likely to be more in hope, as Verstappen has not finished on the podium in the past four races this season. With just two wins to his name in 2025, he doesn’t arrive as the favourite for once.
"[Hungary] was not a great weekend for us, so I hope we can be closer," he said of his chances at his home Grand Prix. "I don't think this will be our best rack, but there is some weather coming in so that could cause some chaos."
It will likely need something special in Qualifying to open up the possibility, but you can never rule the four-time World Champion out.
FERRARI
A RESET FOR FERRARI AND HAMILTON
2025 has been a challenging year for Lewis Hamilton so far, with his move to Ferrari seeing him having to settle into a new environment for the first time in 12 years.
There have been obvious highs – including a Sprint victory in China – that hint at the potential of the partnership, and they appeared to be making some good progress ahead of the summer break.
But those gains didn’t lead to firm results in Belgium and Hungary, and the latter saw Hamilton particularly downbeat after he was unable to score a point after he and the team gambled on a different strategy in an attempt to recover from a Q2 knockout.
Hamilton admitted the break came at the perfect time. "During that time was enough for me to reset," he said. "We go into the second half which is going to be tough, but I’ve got the whole team behind me, which I’m confident that we’ll make progress with in the second half of the season. Just stay positive, keep your head up.”
Pushed on how he is approaching the final 10 races of the year, Hamilton responded: “I think right now, it’s just about calming some things down and focusing on getting back to enjoying my job. I love this sport, I always have.
“That’s why I got into it, and I’m going to drown out all of the noise and just get back to… this is a great restart moment for us.”
mercedes
MERCEDES DRIVERS AWAITING EXTENSIONS
Aside from the Cadillac driver line-up (more on that coming up), the other team that have had a significant focus on their pairing this year have been Mercedes.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are yet to receive confirmation that their contracts will be extended – or at least that confirmation has not yet been made public – following a summer where discussions with Verstappen also made headlines.
Given the consistently high level that Russell has performed at this year, and the clear potential Antonelli has shown that he has, it would be a major surprise if there were any changes at this point, but until signatures are on contracts then there is always a slight chance of something unexpected happening.
When quizzed on the topic of his contract at Thursday's media day, Russell confessed, "The truth is, I just want to win and I want to win with Mercedes. If I could choose, that is what I would choose to do but of course things have to be right, things have to be aligned."
TYRES
WHAT TYRES WILL THE TEAMS AND DRIVERS HAVE FOR THE GRAND PRIX?
For the event at Zandvoort – which will also mark the 500th World Championship round in which Pirelli have had a presence, with their first being at the maiden championship race at Silverstone back in 1950 – the compounds in play will be the C2 as the hard, the C3 as the medium and the C4 as the soft. This selection is one step softer than that brought to the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.
Drivers will get two sets of the hard tyre (marked white), three sets of the medium tyre (marked yellow), and eight sets of the soft tyre (marked red), as well as access to the green intermediate tyre and the blue full wets, should they be required.
An extra set of softs is reserved for those who reach Q3 in Qualifying, while all drivers must use at least two different slick compounds during the race, providing the track is dry.
In terms of why this year’s compounds are a step softer than those used in Zandvoort last year, Pirelli’s weekend preview explains: “The decision, taken in conjunction with the FIA and the championship promoter, has the aim of increasing the likelihood of a strategy based on two stops, rather than just the one-stop, which has been the predominant choice since this race returned to the calendar in 2022."
