Max Verstappen will be hoping to impress his home fans at the Dutch GP once again after his dominating win in Zandvoort last year.
Zandvoort is a historic track in F1 but was absent for several decades before making a return in 2021. It featured in the F1 World Championship calendar for the first time in 1952 and was a regular until 1985.
With Verstappen’s ascendency in F1, it was impossible for F1 to not return here. The Dutch fans are extremely passionate about the sport and turn up in hundreds of thousands to support Verstappen as we saw last year. The 24-year-old dominated the Dutch GP from start to finish and won the outing in front of a sea of orange.
This year, he enters the outing 96-points ahead of his nearest Title rival Charles Leclerc. As of right now, he is the favorite to win his second World Title in a row and his home fans would love to see him continue with his charge at Zandvoort.
2022 Dutch GP: Circuit Zandvoort length and number of laps
Circuit Zandvoort has gone through plenty of changes in terms of the layout over the years. The original layout would look completely unrecognizable compared to what we see today.
The original layout did not have as many sharp turns as the current Grand Prix Layout is. Currently, one complete lap of the circuit is 2.646 miles (4.259 km) long.
It’s one of the longest races on the calendars in terms of number of laps. Fans will be treated to 72 laps of racing action this Sunday for the Dutch GP.
Dutch Grand Prix lap records:
The current layout of Circuit Zandvoort has seen just one Formula 1 race, which took place last year. Verstappen qualified for the race on pole, which was faster than the fastest lap of the race.
The record for the fastest race lap time at Circuit Zandvoort, however, lies with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver put in a time of 1:11.097 in his W12 last season.
Before Hamilton, four-time World Champion Alain Prost held the record (in a different layout) by setting a time of 1:16.538 in 1985.
Also read: Ferrari’s $27 Million offer that Adrian Newey refused for Red Bull
Past winners at Circuit Zandvoort:
Last year, Max Verstappen completely dominated the Dutch GP. His Title rival Hamilton could not pose much of a threat, and after the race, he admitted that he was awestruck by the atmosphere created by the fans. Before 2021, the last Dutch GP was in 1985 and it was won by the legendary Austrian driver, Niki Lauda.
The winners of the last five winners in the Netherlands are as follows:
2021: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
1985: Niki Lauda (McLaren)
1984: Alain Prost (McLaren)
1983: Rene Arnoux (Ferrari)
1982: Didier Pironi (Ferrari)
