Like Max Verstappen, his manager Raymond Vermeulen is also impressed by the Orange Army that has grown over the years and shows itself in a positive way in Zandvoort, but also around other races on the calendar.
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“Dutch people are of course very chauvinistic and proud, so they join in the success story by walking and partying. But that is of course also super cool to see. You also see it with the euphoria around the Dutch national team or in speed skating at the Olympic Games,” Vermeulen says in an interview in FORMULA 1 Magazine on the occasion of the last Dutch GP, coming Sunday in Zandvoort.
Yet Vermeulen also sees that the craze is nowhere as extreme as around Max Verstappen. “Formula 1 was of course in a long, deep hibernation in the Netherlands. After Jos’s success, Dutch success was a bit difficult. And the story of Max, who as a young boy ran over the established order, was of course huge.”
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Micro-economy around Max
Raymond Vermeulen: “I think we as Dutch people can be very proud that the Grand Prix returned to Zandvoort. For a long time, no one dared to dream of that. Max has been able to win there a few times and has given the entire micro-economy around the Dutch GP a huge boost. I think everyone realizes that it is Max who has moved the needle.”
Read here the extensive interview with Max Verstappen about the last Dutch GP in Zandvoort and his own future plans: ‘Hopefully I have inspired children’.
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