Max Verstappen aims to give army of home fans reason to celebrate at Dutch GP

Max Verstappen is aiming to give his orange army of fans a reason to celebrate when they pack the stands at his home Dutch Grand Prix this weekend.

Red Bull's double world champion can equal Sebastian Vettel's record of nine consecutive wins with victory at Zandvoort. He is also looking to make it three victories in a row at the coastal circuit after winning from pole in 2021 and 2022.

“This is one of my favourite places,” the Dutchman, looking relaxed and tanned after F1's summer break, said on Thursday.

“I'm not thinking about the record too much. We want to bring the best possible car to the track and of course we want to win.”

Verstappen's massive popularity in the Netherlands is one of the principal reasons why Zandvoort came out of a near four-decade hibernation two years ago to rejoin the F1 calendar.

Described by one former teammate Pierre Gasly on Thursday as “an icon” of the Netherlands, the man himself jokingly brushed aside any pressure he may feel as the home hero on Sunday where the majority of the 300,000 fans expected over the weekend will be rooting for him.

“I wouldn't wish that [pressure] on anyone,” said the runaway championship leader, before breaking into a broad grin.

“It's great to see all the fans. It's an amazing track to drive, all of that makes it a fun weekend.”

He approaches the 13th race of the year in a strong position to join a select club numbering Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as drivers to win three straight world titles.

He leads teammate Sergio Perez by 125 points with his team out to extend their record unbeaten run to 14 races in all.

Hamilton, meanwhile, fears there is a “high chance” that Verstappen will win all 10 remaining races this season –