Max Verstappen honours the Netherlands flag in his latest Formula 1 helmet ahead of the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.
The helmet features his nation’s tricolours of red, white and blue and is adorned with a lion a Dutch national symbol, and a personal one for the world champion.
He will hope to give the home fans even more to cheer about by claiming a third straight victory around the Zandvoort circuit, in front of the passionate Orange Army.
“The Dutch flag is of course related to the Dutch GP at Zandvoort.” Verstappen said on his YouTube channel. “I will be using a special helmet design there, that as you can see, is pretty Dutch.
““I thought to go more with the red-white-blue flag this time. On the top of the helmet, we have the full flag with the lion logo on it.” Verstappen added. “Then one side is blue and the other side is red. That comes together at the back of the helmet.
“I think it’s a great looking result and hope it will look good on track as well. I hope you will like it as well!”
Verstappen’s Zandvoort wins
Following an impressive qualifying in 2021 in which his DRS didn’t work, the reigning world champion went on to dominate the race to regain the lead of the championship.
He controlled the gap to title-rival Lewis Hamilton and responded to cover off any pit stops after navigating his way past Valtteri Bottas, who briefly attempted to hold him up.
In 2022, the champion really had to work for his win. Clever Mercedes strategy put his race-leading position in jeopardy as both Hamilton and George Russell opted for hard tyres and gained track position over Verstappen.
Following a couple of safety cars, the Dutchman expertly timed his restart, leaving no margin for error as he was fractionally behind Hamilton at the start-finish line. On that day, he went on to win by four seconds from Russell.
For the race weekend in 2022, he had paid tribute to his father, Jos, replicating one of the senior Verstappen‘s lids from when he was racing in F1.
It remains to be seen whether he will claim a third straight victory at Zandvoort, or if there is a surprise in store from the chasing pack.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
F1 will return from its summer break with the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort on August 25-27, where championship leader Max Verstappen will be racing on home soil.
