Formula 1 is saying goodbye to Zandvoort this weekend. The final Dutch Grand Prix is being staged there before the race drops off the calendar, ending a short return run that began in 2021.
That is why fans are searching for the Formula story now. This weekend is the last chance to see the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort for the foreseeable future, and it comes with Max Verstappen once again at the centre of the home support that has filled the circuit to sell-out crowds.
The race matters because Zandvoort is not just another stop on the schedule. It was first run as an F1 event in 1952, and the circuit has given the championship some of its most familiar names and moments. Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Bruce McLaren led the field away at the start in 1963. Clark later won there in 1965 for the third of his record four victories at the track. James Hunt took his first F1 win at the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix, while Hesketh recorded its only victory. Niki Lauda won in 1977, and after his 1985 triumph the race disappeared for 36 years.
The modern return was built around Verstappen’s rise. He won when the race came back to the schedule in 2021 and then took the first three races at Zandvoort after the circuit returned. For the home crowd, the setting has been part of the appeal too: the sand dunes beside the track have made the view feel closer to the Open Championship than a typical Formula 1 weekend.
But the numbers have not matched the atmosphere. Organisers have said they could not make the event work financially and have decided not to continue hosting Formula 1, even after the grandstands were packed and the demand was obvious. That is the contradiction at the heart of Zandvoort’s exit: a race loved by crowds, backed by a national hero, and still unable to pay for itself in a way organisers could live with.
The final Dutch Grand Prix now closes a circuit of history that runs from 1952 to this weekend, with no place on the calendar after it. What happens next is simple enough: Formula 1 moves on without Zandvoort, and the Dutch race becomes a memory again rather than a fixture.
