NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix

With its traditional summer break now drawing to a close, Formula 1 is back in action this weekend as the Dutch Grand Prix kickstarts the second half of the season.

First and second practice will take place on Friday, August 29, followed by final practice and Qualifying on Saturday, August 30 and the Grand Prix itself on Sunday, August 31.

Vital statistics

• First Grand Prix – 1952
• Track Length – 4.259km
• Lap record – 1m 11.097s, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2021
• Most pole positions – Rene Arnoux/Max Verstappen (3)
• Most wins – Jim Clark (4)
• Trivia – Zandvoort’s final corner – named after Dutch motorsport legend Arie Luyendyk – features an 18-degree banking, almost double the numbers seen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Pole run to Turn 1 braking point – 199 metres
• Overtakes completed in 2024 – 73
• Safety Car probability – 50%*
• Virtual Safety Car probability – 50%*
• Pit stop time loss – 23 seconds

*From the last four races in the Netherlands

The driver’s verdict

Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver: I’ve only done this one on a bike! Zandvoort is actually a lovely circuit that has been adapted really well for modern F1. It’s still difficult to overtake on, as expected with an old design of track, but the banking makes a huge difference.

You don’t really appreciate the banking until you go around it at Turn 3. The theory is multiple lines, but everyone just bolts for the outside line and tries to get the exit right. And again, coming through the final corner as well, running the banking.

It is a nice, flowing track. You’ve got to have commitment, particularly in the middle sector, which is undulating, and you’ve got to just have it hooked up in the high speed sections. You don’t want to be having random snaps of oversteer, because it’s a punishing circuit as well...

Last five Dutch GP polesitters

• 2024 – Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2022 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 1985 – Nelson Piquet (Brabham)

Last five Dutch GP winners

• 2024 – Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2022 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 1985 – Niki Lauda (McLaren)

Tyre and strategy insight

“For the race in the Netherlands, Pirelli has gone a step softer in terms of compounds than last year,” reads Pirelli’s weekend preview. “The teams will have a choice of the C2 as hard, the C3 as medium and the C4 as soft, whereas in 2024 the available compounds were C1, C2 and C3.

“The decision, taken in conjunction with the FIA and the championship promoter, has the aim of increasing the likelihood of a strategy based on two stops, rather than just the one-stop, which has been the predominant choice since this race returned to the calendar in 2022.

“A further step in this direction stems from the FIA’s decision to increase the pit lane speed limit from 60 to 80 km/h, thus reducing the time taken for a pit stop.

“According to simulations provided by the teams, the one-stop is still quickest, partly because overtaking is notoriously difficult at Zandvoort, with very few straights apart from the main one, combined with the fact the whole track is quite narrow.

“[In 2024], 16 drivers lined up on the grid on the medium tyre, while three – Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas – went for the soft, with Kevin Magnussen starting from the pit lane on hards. Three quarters of the field made just one stop during the race, taking on the hard as the second set, while Magnussen went with the medium.

“The Mercedes pair pitted twice – Hamilton used two sets of C3 and George Russell one – while the remaining three, Tsunoda, Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, ran all three available compounds, with Alex Albon choosing to run medium, hard, medium.

“Nico Hulkenberg drove the longest stint of all, completing 57 laps on the hard. Oscar Piastri topped the list with the medium on 33 laps, while Hamilton ran 24 on the soft.”

Current form

The season resumes with things still very much all to play for in the Drivers’ Championship. Just nine points now separate leader Oscar Piastri and team mate Lando Norris at the top of the standings, with Norris seemingly holding the momentum after winning three of the last four Grands Prix before the summer break.

Piastri, however, has six Grand Prix victories to his name this season – one more than Norris – and has displayed solid consistency throughout the campaign, being the only driver to have scored points at every round so far.

It will be fascinating to see who comes out on top in Zandvoort, a venue that Norris triumphed at back in 2024. However, McLaren have also voiced their concerns about the possibility of the squad’s rivals posing more of a challenge in the second half of the campaign.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes appeared to have found more pace last time out in Hungary and, as the two sides vie for second place in the Teams’ Championship, each will be keen to seal some valuable points as the season gets underway again.

Red Bull, meanwhile, faced a challenging weekend at the Hungaroring, with the RB21 struggling to match the team’s competitors. But one thing for certain is that Max Verstappen can never be counted out. Can he score a good result in front of his passionate home fans?

Elsewhere, the midfield battle remains as tight as ever. Williams’ previously comfortable advantage in fifth place looks to be under threat, with Aston Martin and Kick Sauber not far behind in sixth and seventh respectively. Amid such fine margins, any of these teams could make gains – or indeed losses – depending on how they fare at Zandvoort.

Iconic moment

James Hunt claimed 10 Grand Prix wins during an F1 career that spanned most of the 1970s, and the first of them was a piece of history not just for himself, but also the plucky Hesketh upstart team he represented.

In a 1975 encounter that started on a damp track but soon shifted to dry conditions, Hunt pitted after seven laps to change his wet tyres for slicks, but many others – including pole-sitting Ferrari driver Niki Lauda – initially stayed out.

Once the rest of the field had eventually pitted, Hunt found himself in the giddy heights of P1 – a position Lauda was desperate to reclaim. However, the inimitable Briton could not be stopped as he logged his maiden F1 win and the one-and-only triumph for Lord Hesketh’s operation.

It was a remarkable, feel-good underdog tale, with the mighty Ferrari toppled by a fledgling force, and it remains at the head of the list when it comes to iconic moments at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Watch how it all unfolded in the video player below...