After a disappointing Formula 1 race weekend in Belgium, the Dutch Grand Prix must and will be a party twice as big. Zandvoort turns orange, because for the first time in 36 years a Grand Prix weekend will be completed on the local circuit.
Verstappen is in top form on his hunt for his first Formula 1 victory on home soil. In the RacingNews365 podcast, Tom Coronel and Ruud Dimmers have a lot of confidence in a good ending to the race weekend for the 23-year-old Red Bull driver.
“I have a lot of confidence in it,” said F1 expert Ruud Dimmer. “At Spa, Mercedes was sometimes disappointing. In qualifying they occasionally made strange choices. Red Bull was the only team to have a new set of intermediates for the race. Mercedes had to work at the last minute in Q2 to finish Q3. that while it is a Mercedes circuit,” he recalls.
“Max, however, looked very strong,” continues Dimmers. “At Zandvoort it is of course the question who the favorite is. However, I can see it happening that it will be a festive weekend, with the pole, victory and the World Cup leadership for Verstappen”, he sounds enthusiastic.
Asked who will be the big surprise of the race weekend, the men choose one of the Mercedes drivers. Not for Lewis Hamilton, but Valtteri Bottas. “Bottas will be the surprise of the race in Zandvoort. He has won twice in Formula 3 there and knows the track, so that will help him here,” said Tom Coronel, who is supported by his opponent. “Tom is indeed right about that. Bottas has really done well there in the past.”
Furthermore, lumps are expected in the midfield, but when a top three is asked, we don’t hear very strange predictions. Except that Bottas will end up ahead of Hamilton. Coronel explains: “Zandvoort is narrower than you think. Something is definitely going to happen, it will be messy. Especially the midfield.”
“Hamilton is third, Bottas is second, Max is going to win the race. A home race always works. It gives you just a little more energy. The story of whether he can handle the pressure is no longer the case. He has too much experience for that, so he’s really going to get it. If something happens to Max again that he can’t do anything about, I’ll get seriously stressed,” concludes the WTRC driver.
Listen below to the entire podcast with Tom Coronel and Ruud Dimmers.
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