IT'S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we're excited about ahead of the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix

Three weeks on from the last race weekend in Budapest, it’s race week again as the 2025 season gets set to resume. The teams have all had to commit to a two-week shutdown during August, but should be raring to go when the paddock reconvenes at Zandvoort.

Driver market movement

The driver market is unusual this year, given the fact there are so many confirmed seats for 2026 already. That’s a byproduct of the length of contracts that were already in place, but also a wider desire to have continuity in race seats from this year to next, in order to not have to integrate a new driver at the same time as a significant regulation change.

The unusual aspect is the fact there is a new team entering in 2026, and they have to put in place an entire new driver line-up.

Cadillac will be the 11th team on the grid next season, and have been linked with a long list of drivers. The majority of them include those with recent F1 experience, but there have also been rookies and IndyCar winners that have been mentioned in connection with the new entry.

Rumours that a decision is close have been gaining momentum during the summer break, and we could soon find out who the first pairing for Cadillac will be. Whoever they pick, it will be a simple case of expansion, with two new seats and therefore two extra drivers getting to race next year.

The title fight resumes

Fourteen races down, 10 to go. The summer break might often feel like the halfway point in the calendar, but in many senses it's a pause before the run-in. The final two European rounds are about to kick off, and after the double header of Zandvoort and Monza we will be heading into the final third of the season.

While no single Grand Prix pays more points than any other, the closer you get to the end of the season the more the pressure seems to ramp up, and each race feels that bit more important.

For the two McLaren drivers who are the clear favourites for the title this season, the summer break is likely to have been a welcome spell of time off before the resuming hostilities, even if the battle hasn’t been particularly hostile so far.

Oscar Piastri arrives in Zandvoort with a nine-point advantage over team mate Lando Norris, but it was Norris who won last time out in Budapest and also delivered a very strong performance to dominate last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, winning by over 20 seconds as Piastri ended up fourth.

But there has been another clear step forward from the Australian in his third season in F1, and there is often little to choose between the two McLaren drivers in terms of pace. Who comes out on top in the first race after the break is likely to be down to small details once again, and in such a close fight you never know how important any given weekend could end up proving.

A party crowd hoping for some magic from Max

Until that dominant win for Norris last season, Zandvoort had been the domain of Max Verstappen, who won the first three editions of the Dutch Grand Prix since it returned to the calendar in 2021.

Verstappen always enjoys huge support at his home race, with a sea of orange greeting him, along with a raucous atmosphere on the North Sea coast.

While those fans may have arrived with a sense of expectation in previous years, this time around it is likely to be more in hope, as Verstappen has not finished on the podium in the past four races this season. With just two wins to his name in 2025, he doesn’t arrive as the favourite for once.

Yet there is still reason for Verstappen fans to be optimistic, with a Sprint win in Belgium breaking up that lack of a podium, and the Dutchman proving on multiple occasions that he can threaten at the front if the car is to his liking.

It will likely need something special in Qualifying to open up the possibility, but you can never rule the four-time World Champion out.

A reset for Ferrari and Hamilton

2025 has been a challenging year for Lewis Hamilton so far, with his move to Ferrari seeing him having to settle into a new environment for the first time in 12 years.

There have been obvious highs – including a Sprint victory in China – that hint at the potential of the partnership, and they appeared to be making some good progress ahead of the summer break as he was increasingly competitive compared to team mate Charles Leclerc.

But those gains didn’t lead to firm results in the two races in Belgium and Hungary, and the latter saw Hamilton particularly downbeat after he dropped out in Q2 and was unable to score a point after he and the team gambled on a different strategy in an attempt to recover.

In many ways, the break could well have come at the perfect time, allowing Hamilton – who is often very hard on himself – to gain a bit of perspective on the performance potential he has shown. Still, after being so frustrated in Budapest, both he and Ferrari could do with a clean race at Zandvoort to start to build some positive momentum again before a big weekend at Monza.

Mercedes drivers awaiting extensions

Aside from the Cadillac driver line-up, the other team that have had a significant focus on their pairing this year have been Mercedes.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are yet to receive confirmation that their contracts will be extended – or at least that confirmation has not yet been made public – following a summer where discussions with Verstappen also made headlines.

Given the consistently high level that Russell has performed at this year, and the clear potential Antonelli has shown that he has, it would be a major surprise if there were any changes at this point, but until signatures are on contracts then there is always a slight chance of something unexpected happening.

Russell admitted in Hungary that it wasn’t a particularly reassuring time having to wait for confirmation of his future, and if there is no announcement prior to the paddock arriving in Zandvoort then it could remain a significant talking point over the weekend.