Verstappen expecting his toughest Dutch Grand Prix yet as he assesses challenge posed by ‘many more teams’

Max Verstappen has admitted that he is feeling less certain about his prospects of winning the Dutch Grand Prix than during F1’s last visit to Zandvoort 12 months ago, with “many more teams” now in with a chance of taking victory.

Verstappen arrived into his home event with a 125-point lead in the drivers’ championship back in 2023, while Red Bull held a sizeable 256-point advantage over their rivals in the teams’ standings.

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This time, however, the margins are much finer – Verstappen is ahead of second-placed Lando Norris by 78 points, and Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ has come down to just 42 points from McLaren. Seven drivers have taken victories across the first half of the campaign, and Verstappen has not stood on the top step of the podium himself since racing in Barcelona in June.

Since its return to the calendar in 2021, Verstappen has won every Dutch Grand Prix, meaning that he is unbeaten at the track as things stand. However, when asked ahead of this year’s event if this could be his toughest visit to Zandvoort yet, the reigning world champion answered: “Looking at how the season is at moment, for sure.

“It looks like also there are many more teams involved that can actually win a race, so for sure I’m not coming into this weekend saying that we’re going to win the race. I just want to have a clean weekend, understand the car a bit more, learn from it.

“Of course we analysed a lot over the break and tried to do things maybe a bit different or better, and we’ll find out over the weekend how that will go.”

While he has an unblemished record at his home event, Verstappen does not believe that being defeated at the track would be any harder for him to accept.

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“Not really,” the Dutchman said on the matter. “You just have to be realistic – if you can win the race of course you go for it, and if you don’t have a chance then it’s very simple, you don’t deserve to win, you move on and try to do better.

“We just have to wait and see where we are throughout the weekend – I also don’t know. Last year coming here I was a lot more confident that we had a good chance of winning the race, but that’s how the season is already, it’s a lot more competitive.

“From our side I think we’re still trying to improve, to find a better car balance. Hopefully we can start here to find a better balance.”

And while his and the team’s grip on both championships may not be quite as strong as during their dominant 2023 season, Verstappen is not yet concerned about their title chances despite the competition being posed by their rivals.

“I’m not really worried, I’m also not thinking about [the last race of the season in] Abu Dhabi yet,” the 26-year-old added. “I just want to improve as a team, to improve the car.

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“I know that if we improve our car then it makes our lives a bit easier, because the last few races have been a bit tough, though I do believe if we started pole in Spa in our normal starting position without the [10-place engine] penalty, we could have still won the race.

“But it’s just very tight margins and that’s why also qualifying is always very important. But the better performance we have from the car, the easier it becomes – that’s what we showed last year.

“I don’t expect it to be like last year, but we always want to try to be better, and especially the situation we have been in in the last few races. We want to come out of that and learn a bit more from the car and be more competitive.”