The Formula 1 season resumes this weekend following the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at the Circuit Zandvoort.
The Dutch Grand Prix is the first of 12 races in the second half of the season and the fifth of six sprint races.
It’s the final time Formula 1 will visit Zandvoort as the promoter decided not to seek a contract extension beyond 2026.
Five drivers have won in 2026, with each of them picking up a win in the previous five Grands Prix.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship by 50 points after the first half of the season. Antonelli won six races of the 11 Grands Prix before the summer break.
He has only finished off the podium twice in 2026. Both times, he was running second late in the race before experiencing car problems, which dropped him out of contention.
Antonelli, who turns 20 two days after the Dutch Grand Prix, would be the youngest Drivers’ champion in Formula 1 history.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton is second in the Drivers’ standings. He would need to outscore Antonelli by over four points each weekend for the remainder of the season to win a record eighth Drivers’ title.
Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, is nine points behind Hamilton. Russell had a tumultuous first half of the season marred by poor luck and struggles to match Antonelli’s pace.
For Russell to mount a comeback, he would need to outscore Antonelli by five points each weekend for the remainder of the season. Even then, that would give him the title by a single point ahead of Antonelli.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc is fourth in the Driver’s standings. Leclerc was the highest-scoring driver over the final four races before the summer break.
Reigning World Champion Lando Norris was the winner last time out in Hungary. The McLaren driver was the first non-Mercedes or Ferrari race winner in 2026. He was also the first non-Mercedes pole-sitter.
McLaren introduced an upgrade package in Hungary, which helped them contend against Mercedes and Ferrari. However, the Hungaroring has been a strong track for McLaren and Norris in recent seasons, so it remains to be seen how well the upgrades will work at a different track.
Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix in 2024. It was the second win of his career and the first time he won while starting on pole.
The Dutch Grand Prix was held in Zandvoort from 1950 until 1985. It returned to the grid in 2021.
Dutch driver Max Verstappen won the first three Dutch Grands Prix once the track returned to the grid. The Red Bull driver has finished second at the previous two races in Zandvoort.
Verstappen finished on the podium in three of the final four Grands Prix before the summer break, but is yet to win a race in 2026. If he goes winless in the second half of the season, it would be the first time since his rookie season in 2015 that Verstappen fails to win a race.
Verstappen will have a different teammate in Zandvoort. Isack Hadjar will miss the Grand Prix after suffering a wrist injury in the gym during the summer break.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson will step in the second Red Bull seat while Yuki Tsunoda will drive for Racing Bulls.
Lawson was Verstappen’s teammate for the first two Grands Prix in 2025, but was demoted to Racing Bulls in favour of Tsunoda after a poor start to the season.
Tsunoda’s own poor performance for the remainder of 2025 meant that Red Bull chose to promote Hadjar to the main team and bring Arvid Lindblad into Racing Bulls, leaving Tsunoda without a seat for 2026.
Hadjar achieved the only podium of his career when he finished third at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix. He was on a streak of seven straight points finishes before the summer break. He sits eighth in the Drivers’ standings with 68 points.
Lawson has impressed with Racing Bulls. He is 25 points behind Hadjar in ninth.
Last year’s winner in Zandvoort, Oscar Piastri, will be looking to rebound after a disappointing end to the first half of the season.
Piastri led for much of the first half of the Hungarian Grand Prix, but was overcut by Norris following contact with backmarker Carlos Sainz of Williams after his second pit stop. Piastri later retired from second with a gearbox failure.
2025’s Dutch Grand Prix acted as a turning point in the Drivers’ Championship. Piastri took his seventh win of the season, while Norris retired from second place following an oil leak. Piastri led the Drivers’ championship by 34 points ahead of Norris and 104 points ahead of Verstappen after the race.
Piastri did not win another Grand Prix for the remainder of the season, while Norris won twice and Verstappen won six times. Piastri dropped to third in the standings while Norris took his maiden Drivers’ title by two point ahead of Verstappen.
Prior to the weekend, Williams announced contract extension with both Sainz and Alex Albon, meaning they will keep the same driver lineup for at least the 2027 season.
