As a Formula One fan, attending a Grand Prix abroad race has always been a dream of mine. Despite being a huge Lewis Hamilton supporter, when the Dutch Grand Prix returned to Zandvoort in 2020, I knew I had to go at some point. I’ve always wanted to see Amsterdam and what better way than seeing a Formula 1 race too. While COVID definitely threw a wrench in my plan, it ended up giving me an opportunity that I didn’t see possible. My friends and I took a gamble and bought some cheap flights betting that the COVID restrictions would be over by the time the race came around. Lucky for us, that happened; As well as winning the ticket lottery which not only got us tickets, but some really good seats on the cheap. Although this all sounds great, the event was not without its flaws.  

Getting to Zandvoort was easy enough, as we took the train from Amsterdam Centraal and arrived at the station just a short walk away from the circuit. The lines for the train were massive, but the trains were arriving as soon as one left which made the process fairly quick. Once we arrived, the streets of Zandvoort were insane. Tons of vendors selling merch  and people partying in their yards. The whole town was a giant block party all supporting Max Verstappen in his signature “Oranje” coloring. After a 1 mile or so walk through the Orange Sea, we finally made it to the circuit entrance. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with the sounds of some RPM maxing Formula 2 cars tearing around the circuit. We were amazed by the proximity to the actual track. The fencing was much closer than I had experienced at the US Grand Prix. The atmosphere was electric and incredibly loud. After standing on one of the sand banks watching in awe, we decided to head to our seats to get a lay of the land.

Our seats were located at the start of Turn 10, which provided a great view of the exit of Turn 9. We were in the third row so there were only two rows ahead of us. We were not sure where exactly we would be sitting  so this was extremely welcome. We hung around and watched the cars drive by for a bit then headed out in search of beer. One cool thing was that when you arrive, you get these wooden tokens. The tokens get you 1 cheap beer, something like $6 instead of $15. However, as long as you bring back an empty cup, you keep getting the discount on beer. It was the circuit’s way of helping to keep the ground clean and be able to better recycle the cups. I thought that was a simple way to keep everyone happy. After a “few” trips to the Heineken booth, we decided to walk around the circuit. This proved to be our biggest mistake of the day.

This place was crowded AF. Once we left the small cutout for Turn 10 we were in, it was a nightmare. Shoulder to shoulder crowds that were moving about 1-2 mph. It took us almost 45 minutes to walk to Turn 13. Once we got there, we were quickly disappointed. There was only 1 area to buy food and the lines were insane. We waited another 30-45 minutes just to get some Turkish Pizzas. I’m all for waiting my turn, but this seemed to be a case of understaffing and misjudging the attendance. However, the biggest disappointment for me was the merchandise. There were only a few small booths for some of the bigger teams. Only Red Bull had a full line of stuff to buy. At the US Grand Prix, the teams post up with multiple semi-trucks worth of storefronts to shop in. I felt like the teams didn’t think it was worth even showing up to sell since like 95% of the crowd were Red Bull fans. I am not a Red Bull fan so I was not happy with the selection. I was really hoping to get something to remember the day. Ultimately, it’s not a big deal, but it’s certainly something I didn’t expect. 

We eventually made our way back to our seats to catch the race. Having an unobstructed view of the track with a full TV in front of us really made the race a blast. Previously only having attended other grand prix with general admission tickets, this was a change of pace. Anti-climatically, Max won and it wasn’t too interesting of a race. We were just happy to get to see it in person and enjoy an entirely new way to see race live. After the race, we made our way back to the train station. This time, it was incredibly more packed. Since everyone left at the same time, there were at least 10x the people when we arrived. We started to get pushed around by the crowd and it got pretty sketchy at certain points. There wasn’t anyone doing anything intentionally, but you get that many people moving in the same direction and it’s hard to stop them. We finally made it back to the station after a welcome air conditioned seat on the train and went back to the hotel before a night out on the town in Amsterdam. I’ll leave the details of the night out for another time…

Despite the various issues we encountered, attending the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort was an incredible experience. The atmosphere was explosive albeit orange, the cars were unreal, and the overall energy of the event was unforgettable. While there were certainly some things that were different, I wouldn’t have changed our experience for anything. Although I can say that I probably won’t attend another Dutch Grand Prix in the future, the trip was one of the best of my life. My final thought I leave you with is that it pays to be a Max fan if you are going to attend. The Dutch Fans are your people. The Dutch Grand Prix is your Mecca.