In 2026, Circuit Zandvoort will host the last Dutch GP. After five spectacular race weekends and just as many performances by home hero Max Verstappen, the event has grown into one of the highlights of the sports year and a world-famous folk festival. While we count down to the finale of the Dutch GP, we also look back at the previous editions. We go back to 2022: the year in which a clever strategy helped Verstappen to victory.
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In 2022, Verstappen returned to his home circuit as world champion. Under the new groundeffect regulations, Red Bull had a dominant car and the Dutchman fought for his second world title in a row. At Zandvoort in 2022, it was mainly about strategy. Verstappen again started from pole position and quickly pulled away from Charles Leclerc, his main rival. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton touched in the first corner but were able to continue without problems in P3 and P4 respectively.
Leclerc chose to pit after eighteen laps. Verstappen responded one lap later by coming in for fresh rubber himself. He swapped his soft tires for mediums, after which he rejoined the track behind both Mercedes cars. The Silberpfeile proved to be formidable opponents as both drivers gambled on a longer first stint. Yet Verstappen passed George Russell first in lap 28 before opening the hunt on Hamilton.
Mercedes challenges Max Verstappen
However, he did not let himself be passed easily and came in lap 30 for hard tires, followed by teammate Russell. Both hoped to complete the race with a one-stop strategy. Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez was tasked with tempering the advance of the Mercedes cars. For one lap he managed to fend off Hamilton’s attacks, but on fresher rubber an overtaking move was inevitable. Not long after, Russell struck as well.
After a pit stop, Yuki Tsunoda had to stop his AlphaTauri alongside the circuit, resulting in a virtual safety car. This gave Verstappen the chance to have fresh hard tires fitted to his RB18, after which he came out of the pit lane as leader again. Mercedes followed his example, although the German team chose mediums. In lap 55, there was another interruption after a retirement by Valtteri Bottas. The safety car came out, prompting Verstappen to decide to make another pit stop. On the soft tires, he ended up behind Hamilton, who had not come in again.
Successful restart
At the restart, Verstappen dived right behind Hamilton through the Arie Luyendijk corner, which catapulted him onto the straight with a lot of extra speed. He immediately put his Red Bull alongside the Mercedes and easily passed his former title rival. Russell and Leclerc also managed to pass the seven-time world champion and completed the podium.
“It is always special to win your home race,” Verstappen said afterwards. “That was also the case last year, but this year I had to fight even harder. It was certainly not the easiest race. We had to push the whole race, but fortunately we made the right strategic decisions during the virtual safety car and the safety car. It is always a bit of a wait-and-see, but it worked out well in the end. When we then went back to the soft tires, we had great speed again.”
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Read everything about the Dutch GP in Zandvoort here
