It’s race day at the Dutch Grand Prix. Express Sport keeps you up to date with all the big news out of Zandvoort…
Lewis Hamilton starts the Dutch GP 14th while Max Verstappen is 2nd (Image: GETTY)
It’s race day at Zandvoort with the return of F1 at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend. Max Verstappen is hoping to win his home race for a fourth successive year but does not start on pole.
Instead, he’s in P2 behind McLaren’s Lando Norris. Yet the weekend has seen more talk about Verstappen’s future than his driving. Toto Wolff claims he is still an option for Mercedes for the future even though he will stay at Red Bull for 2025.
Lewis Hamilton is leaving the Silver Arrows for Ferrari at the end of the year which has prompted the speculation.
And the Brit will start way down in P14 today after being punished for impeding Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez in qualifying. He was given a three-place grid penalty for the incident.
Lando Norris has admitted “my starts have not been my forte” ahead of the race today.
Norris beat Max Verstappen by 0.346s in qualifying but has never won any of the five previous races he’s started on pole for.
Three of those were Grands Prix while two were sprint races.
And Norris was out of the lead by the end of the first lap in all five of those events.
He said: “I’ve still been up there with being one of the best average starters, I’ve just missed out at a couple of races.
“It’s maybe looked worse than it’s been over the course of a season but there’s a couple of times it’s not been where they need to be, it’s been a couple of times when I’ve been on the front row.
“It’s not been for any certain reason, it’s been different things each time. But I feel confident I’ve put in a lot of work to make my starts a bit better and tomorrow’s a new day.
“I’ve started towards the front a lot of times and I know my stats aren’t the best for that, more often than not I’ve gone backwards rather than holding positions.
“But that’s just what I’ve done so far and I’ve worked hard and am working hard to try and change that.
“But it’s not something that affects me, I’m not going to try and go out tomorrow to suddenly prove people wrong or something. I’m just going to crack on and do what I’m going to do.”
Max Verstappen was fed up on Friday after WADA officials woke him up early to make him do a doping test.
De Telegraaf say the Red Bull driver had a knock on the door of his motorhome at 7am on Friday before first practice.
Officials from the international doping agency were seeking a urine sample from the Dutchman.
Max was a bit grumpy,” Helmut Marko explained.
“It is only a Friday, we should not make it bigger than it is. People from such an agency often come early, because then it is easy to deliver a first pee..
Lewis Hamilton ready to skip Dutch GP
After a horrible qualifying that saw him finish P12, Lewis Hamilton yesterday admitted he was ready to skip today’s race.
The seven-time world champion has already given up on any hope of a solid result in Zandvoort.
And that was before he was bumped down to P15 by the stewards with his grid penalty.
He moved back up to 14th after Alexander Albon’s P8 was disqualified for an illegal floor.
Hamilton said: “It’s definitely very, very frustrating, naturally. But it is what it is. It’s kind of the weekend done and I’ll have to move on to next week [at Monza].”