2026 Dutch Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
4 min read

Formula 1 Returns for One Final Trip to Zandvoort!

After a long and rather quiet summer break (until literally this weekend), Formula 1 returns with one final trips to the Dutch seaside as Zandvoort embarks on its final weekend on the F1 calendar (for the foreseeable future)! The very first Dutch Grand Prix (in the Formula 1 World Championship) took place in 1952, with Alberto Ascari taking victory for Ferrari, whilst after a win for Niki Lauda in 1985, the Dutch Grand Prix wouldn’t return until 2021! Since then, Max Verstappen won 3 Home Races in a row, whilst the last two have been won by the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri! Of course, in F1 in 2026, Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship by 50 points (over Lewis Hamilton), whilst Mercedes currently hold a 72-point advantage over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Standings! Oh, and one last thing, this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix is also a Sprint Weekend, so this could be chaos!

Where is George Russell’s Head At?

One of the big talking points over the first half of the 2026 Formula 1 Season was George Russell; he entered 2026 as a lot of people’s Championship favourite, and yet it certainly hasn’t materialised that way! Plenty of bad luck, questionable team issues/decision, and just some overall poor weekends has left Russell 59 points behind the current Championship leader, his Mercedes teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli! It’s quite clear in our Midseason Driver Rankings that I’ve been a lot more positive about George’s season than you guys, but even then, I can still admit that he’s been miles off his inexperienced teammate (in the grand scheme of things)! However, the summer break came at exactly the right time for the Brit, and who knows, maybe getting engaged can be the start of a wonderful rest of the year for George Russell!

All Change at Red Bull (for the Weekend)

It’s been a chaotic past week for Red Bull Racing, with an injury forcing a ton of driver switches to be made! Unfortunately, Isack Hadjar suffered a wrist injury during the break, meaning he’s unable to compete this weekend! As a result, Liam Lawson has been temporarily promoted to the main team, after a fantastic first half of the season at Racing Bulls! Whilst this presents a massive risk given Lawson’s (short and painful) history at the main team, it’s also a big opportunity for him to impress! Now, with Liam moving up, Yuki Tsunoda will return to the track, piloting the VCARB alongside Arvid Lindblad! Yuki returns after a torrid 2025 at Red Bull, and with him clearly not having a long-term future in Milton Keynes, this might be his one and only opportunity to impress another team on the grid! However, it will be very difficult for Tsunoda given the fact that he hasn’t actually driven the new generation of cars yet (on track)! I do want to quickly mention Arvid Lindblad, mostly because I feel like he’s under more pressure than people are bringing up! Not in terms of losing his seat or anything, but Arvid should be beating Yuki this weekend; it’s as simple as that!

Williams Driver Lineup is Secure

If you listened to my 2027 F1 Driver Lineup Predictions Episode on the Podcast last Friday, you would know that I expected a ton of change at Williams. So, as a result, it was no surprise that Williams announced this week that both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz will be sticking around in 2027 (with Sainz signing a new multi-year agreement)! In some ways, both of these deals surprised me! Alex has been pretty poor in 2026; I literally had him 20th in my Midseason Driver Rankings, and there was always a chance that Luke Browning could be given an opportunity after a strong junior career up to this date! However, Albon has been at Williams since 2022, so he does bring long-term stability! Then there’s Carlos Sainz, who let’s be honest is far too good to be driving for one of the worst teams on the grid! Carlos is a Race-winning calibre talent, but sadly, this decision to re-sign indicates that there just aren’t any spaces at top teams available for him! Here’s hoping that Williams improve, because Sainz (in particular) deserves better!

Max Verstappen’s Final Hurrah

At the start of this morning, the plan for this article was to end on Max Verstappen, given the fact that it’s his Home Race! I was going to talk about Max’s impact to Dutch sport, his record at Zandvoort, and how it would be an absolute dream to see Verstappen win on his and Formula 1’s final trip to Zandvoort (for a Grand Prix)! However, whilst all of those points are very important, it was announced earlier today (literally whilst I was traveling on the bus) that Verstappen has not just confirmed that he’s staying at Red Bull for next season, but that he’s signed a contract until the end of the 2030 season! The announcement that Max will be driving for Red Bull next year doesn’t surprise me; unless he left the sport completely, I couldn’t see him going anywhere else. However, staying in Formula 1 until 2030 is a massive surprise! It’s been pretty widely regarded that Max signed his final contract a long time ago, with plenty of expectations that he’d depart the sport at the end of 2028! So, for Verstappen to sign a new deal until 2030, particularly when he’s been very vocal about the state of current Formula 1, feels like it’s come out of nowhere! Ultimately, though, this is a massive win for the sport, with Max Verstappen already going down as one of the greatest racing drivers of all time! Now it’s just up to Red Bull to deliver Verstappen a Championship-winning car again!