Can anyone spoil Verstappen's party? 2022 Dutch GP: what to watch for

Max Verstappen heads into his home race with three wins on the bounce, will anybody spoil the party?

Dutch fans cheer Max Verstappen at Zandvoort

Easy KLM transport link means Orange Army once again follows Verstappen round the world

Boris Streubel/Getty Images

With Formula 1 now back from its summer break, the sport heads to Zandvoort for the second instalment of its current triple header.

Last time out, Max Verstappen took a special victory in Belgium where he climbed from P14 – due to an engine penalty – up to first, making him just one of three drivers to win at Spa from outside the top 10.

Heading to his home race at Zandvoort, Verstappen’s championship lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is now 93 points.

However, despite being well and truly beaten at Spa, the Scuderia appears more confident for this weekend considering the track characteristics.

The extension of the second DRS zone, combined with the ’22 cars which can follow more closely, could be an indication of thrilling battles right the way through the field.

With all of that and more in store for this weekend, here is what to watch out for at the Dutch GP.

 

Festival-like atmosphere expected at Verstappen’s home race

SCE

2021 was a sell-out event and most of the noise came from the grandstand which goes along the pit straight

Last season was the first Dutch GP in 36 years, and the crowd certainly made up for lost time with an atmosphere as good as any on the calendar.

The grandstands were full, flares were being set off, the music was pretty loud – but the crowds were there to see one man.

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“It’s an old school circuit, the atmosphere here has been outstanding,” said Verstappen’s Red Bull team boss Christian Horner at the time.

“I think in my entire career I’ve never heard so much support for a driver. It’s been like being in a nightclub for three days.

“The way that Max has handled that pressure, we’ve seen it in other drivers at home races, sometimes it can get to them.

“But I think the intensity and the noise has just been insane.”

However, this year Verstappen will return as a world champion and being en route to back-to-back titles, a similar atmosphere should be expected.

 

Can anybody spoil the Dutch party?

CEL

Despite starting in P14, Verstappen was still favourite to win in Spa which shows how far ahead of everybody he is right now

If the last two races have proved anything, it’s that nothing can really stop Verstappen at the moment, who became the second driver after Bruce McLaren to win back-to-back races starting from P10 or below.

As a driver all year, he’s just been in a league of his own and also has the car to match it, with Red Bull RB18 winning all but four races.

The team is romping towards both titles however, despite how dominant Spa was, the feeling is this weekend should be a lot tighter – with Zandvoort’s characteristics playing into this.

After huge renovation work, the track now represents a rollercoaster-like experience for the drivers with plenty of elevation changes around the twisty, 14-turn track.

This year’s Red Bull is faster on the straights, but the Ferrari is handier through the low-speed corners – seeing who emerges on top in this intense battle for supremacy will be fascinating.

Zandvoort is a high-downforce circuit and when F1 has visited such tracks this season the Sucderia has been the team largely on top.

Leclerc had an easy lead in Spain until an MGU-H failure put him out, victory should have been his in Monaco had it not been for a Ferrari pit-stop blunder, with more tyre choice issues in Budapest.

“I think it’s [Spa] a one-off,” said Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz of Red Bull’s crushing Spa performance. “I think they just had a super-strong weekend.

“I think at Zandvoort we can be back on form and beat Red Bull again. I’m not particularly worried about that. Can we get back in the fight? I am convinced we should.”

These thoughts were echoed by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who said: “I think they will be back strong in Zandvoort.

“As you know this [Spa] is a very unique place with a lot of straights around this place, where we are gaining a lot of lap time on them. So Zandvoort will be quite different.”

 

Has the technical directive made any difference?

ACT

Despite optimism for Spa, Mercedes were further off the pace than usual

A new technical directive was brought in for Spa to ensure planks under the car floor remain rigid, after it was thought Ferrari and Red Bull had made use of a controversial interpretation of the rules to give their skid blocks extra flexibility, thus greater aerodynamic stability.

It was believed Mercedes would be one of the teams most benefitted by the change, who had been gradually closing their gap to the top two before the summer break.

Yet come Spa, the Silver Arrows were 1.9 seconds off the pace in qualifying and Verstappen breezed past George Russell on his way to first.

“That technical directive has been very, very bad for us,” joked Verstappen. “As I said before, I didn’t expect it to make much difference to our car.

“Whether it does for Ferrari, I don’t know. And Mercedes is a bit short of top speed this year anyway, so it’s no surprise that they’re not competing here either.”

It will be worth watching to see if Spa was just a one-off or if in fact the pecking order will remain as it is – expect more talk of the technical directive to rumble on throughout the Dutch GP weekend.

 

The battle for fourth hots up

ACT

Bragging rights between the two teams is constantly changing but at the moment, Alpine has the edge

McLaren and Alpine are engaged in a battle on- and off-track – both are vying for the signature of young, hotshot Oscar Piastri, while also fighting for fourth in the championship.

It looks like the young Australian is off to McLaren for 2023 but Alpine is the team ahead in the championship, with Spa being a very good weekend for the French outfit.

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Fernando Alonso finished fifth with his team-mate two places below, while both McLaren drivers were outside the top 10, with the team now trailing its rival by 20 points.

The two outfits are expected to be close in battle again in Zandvoort, however it is believed McLaren may have the edge this weekend.

“It’s high downforce, so it hopefully moves us a little bit more back in line with Budapest kind of pace, I hope,” said McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“But you never know, it was actually our worst track last season. I’m hoping this year it’s not the case because some of the problems that we had in previous years are maybe not so evident this year and we’ve got other problems. It can’t be a lot worse, I hope, than this weekend.”

In contrast, the Enstone team overall has been a model of consistency. Alonso has finished inside the top 10 at each of the last nine races. The Spaniard lies in eighth in the championship, with Ocon in seventh.

In sixth is Norris, who is pulling in most of the points for McLaren, scoring over three times as many as Daniel Ricciardo. Can the Australian finally start to get the results his team need from him before his departure at the end of the season?

 

An extended DRS zone to try and improve racing

F1 Grand Prix of The Netherlands - Practice

Will extending DRS improve racing?

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Last year overtaking proved to be difficult, with just 24 overtakes being made.

Now the second DRS zone has been extended to take in the banked Arie Luyendijk corner, potentially setting up some daring overtakes into Turn 1.

This idea was mooted last year but it eventually got scrapped due to safety concerns.

The new DRS zone will be used trial run will be used at the start of this weekend, with teams being consulted as to wther to use it in the race.

“The current position is that we are going to have the DRS ahead of the final corner, so early on, to improve a bit the racing in Zandvoort,” said Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s Single-Seater Technical Director.

“But we are keeping an open mind on that, and we will be asking teams for their feedback. We’ve asked them already in simulations, but also after FP1 we will be asking teams for their feedback.

“And if we feel that there is any, even a remote, risk for the safety than clearly we would have to take action and change it after FP1.”