The Red Bull Racing drivers look ahead to this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix

Max Verstappen wants to give the final Dutch Grand Prix a good send-off by impressing his home fans at Zandvoort this weekend.

The race, which made a return to the calendar in 2021, will drop off the calendar for 2026, with home crowd favourite Verstappen having won the first three races consecutively en route to his first three world championships.

The F1 circus returns this weekend after the summer break, with Red Bull Racing looking to improve on their fourth place in the constructor’s championship, while Verstappen, who has ruled himself out of a fifth straight driver’s title, is looking to consolidate his third place ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell

“As my home race it is always a special race for me; the atmosphere is amazing and we always have such great support,” he said ahead of the weekend. “Driving past a sea of orange when you are racing is an incredible feeling and I am looking forward to being back.

“Zandvoort is an old school circuit with quite a unique layout and a lot of fast corners. It will be a tough race and it looks like the weather might make things tricky but let’s see what happens.”

Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda is out of contract at the end of the season and is in desperate need of an upturn in fortunes. Since moving to the Tilbrook team after just two races this season to replace Liam Lawson, the Japanese has scored just four points, and has a highest finish of 12th in his last seven outings.

He said: “I’m coming into this weekend refreshed and ready to go. I had a really good summer break, with a perfect mix of rest, time with friends, good food and importantly a lot of good training. It means I feel strong mentally and physically for the second half of the season.

“Zandvoort will be a tough weekend for everyone, it always throws up fresh challenges with the weather and this one looks set to be wet again there. That, combined with the wind and location can make things unpredictable on track but we have been working hard to make sure we can combat that and achieve a solid and consistent weekend.”