Three F1 drivers expected to get ‘good’ support alongside Max Verstappen from Zandvoort fans

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The Dutch Grand Prix has become synonymous with the clouds of orange smoke that billow out of the grandstands when Max Verstappen wins.

Since Zandvoort rejoined the calendar in 2021, all of the races have been won by Max Verstappen in front of his adoring fans.

This has led to them setting off flares and creating iconic pictures of the track being covered in orange smoke at the end of a race, with Fernando Alonso once remarking that he knew who won the race based on the fan reaction.

Not only has Zandvoort seen its fair share of drama in F1 over the years, but Verstappen’s recent success has contributed to it being a highly successful event, with 305,000 fans attending the race in 2023.

You would think that with such heavy support from the Dutch many of the drivers would not receive as much fan support, but according to Dutch journalist Erik Van Haren on the F1 Nation podcast, this is not the case.

Three drivers who get support from Dutch F1 fans

Although Verstappen is likely to get the line share of support from fans at the circuit, according to Van Haren three other drivers are favourites.

“Lando has a good amount of people cheering for him as well in the Netherlands. And I think the last couple of years, they can cheer for everyone. Fernando Alonso was on the podium last year, he is popular in the Netherlands as well.

“Also Lewis Hamilton in the first year in 2021, when he fought Max, I think the people were cheering for him as well. So that was also good in that particular year, also good for the image of Zandvoort.”

Zandvoort F1 future in doubt

Even though Zandvoort has proven to be a successful event since its revival on the F1 calendar in 2021, the future of the track is still uncertain.

Zandvoort circuit director Robert van Overdijk confirmed that the track risks falling off the busy F1 schedule past its current contract that runs out in 2025.

READ MORE: The most successful F1 drivers at the Dutch Grand Prix of all time at Zandvoort

F1 is currently trying to juggle the number of races currently on the calendar with its ambitions to expand it even more, with recent rumours of a Thai Grand Prix being considered.

But with the popularity of the Dutch GP alone, F1 might find it difficult to justify taking it off the calendar. It was the third-best attended race in 2023 at 288,218 overall behind Australia (452,055) and Canada (350,000).