F1 hit in Zandvoort

MAXimum madness! Everything revolves around Verstappen

In Zandvoort, everything revolves around Max Verstappen. Thousands of fans come by bike.(Bild: Stefan Burgstaller, GEPA)

Max Verstappen drives, the "Orange Army" sings and cycles in Zandvoort for the fourth home win. Only hurricane Ernesto really doesn't care.

The "Krone" reports from Zandvoort

Pension Sissi here, Tiroler Stüberl there. Just a few steps away. You could almost think you were in Austria. However, both are located just a few meters from Zandvoort train station, where the party mile towards the race track begins. This is virtually the headquarters of Max Verstappen's "Orange Army", the headquarters of MAXimal madness. And yet everything is organized - there's just one thing the Dutch don't have under control ...

Party grounds in Zandvoort(Bild: Stefan Burgstaller)

Unlike in Monza, for example, where the train operators are "surprised" by the crowds year after year, everything runs like clockwork here. The regional trains from Amsterdam, 30 km away, run every minute, there are no crowds, and railroad employees cheer on the crowd with megaphones as they disembark in Zandvoort.

The rest of the fans arrive by bike. With kids and cones, sometimes with a beer in one hand. Parking spaces for cars are rare in the coastal town of 17,000 inhabitants, additional parking spaces for bikes have been specially created and hundreds of signposts show cyclists the way from afar.

Jim Clark in sight
The orange jersey is clearly in the lead here. As soon as there are enough of them together, there are cheers for Max Verstappen. "I never thought something like this would happen when I started racing," smiles the world champion and admits: "I'm happy to be here, it's always something special at home." With a fourth victory in Zandvoort, Max could draw level with record holder Jim Clark. "Of course that would be nice, but winning the world championship is the priority right now," says Red Bull Head of Motorsport Helmut Marko, "and it's also his 200th Grand Prix, which is a special race."

Max Verstappen(Bild: AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The fans know that too. For the anniversary, they stock up on specially printed hoodies to brave the rain. And the sand. Which is whirled up from the nearby beach at speeds of up to 80 km/h ...

Because there's one thing the Dutch don't have under control: the foothills of Hurricane Ernesto. Bicycles are blown over, pedestrians are displaced. And the drivers miss their braking points, skid off the track like Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly or spin in like Verstappen in practice. "When a gust like that hits, it's tricky, the cars are aerodynamically sensitive," says Marko. "I don't think any car is designed for that kind of wind," jokes Ferrari star Charles Leclerc. McLaren's Lando Norris doesn't find it funny at all: "The wind is dangerous." But everyone agrees that it is not undriveable.