Verstappen left to rue red-flag ruined return to Zandvoort

Max Verstappen was left to rue the red flags he feels cost him a shot at finishing quickest in practice in front of his legion of Dutch fans.

After a 36-year absence, F1 has returned to Zandvoort on the back of Verstappen's success in the sport, and 70,000 fans flocked to the seaside track to support the Red Bull driver.

But a total of 50 minutes running was lost across the two one-hour sessions, with Sebastian Vettel in FP1 and then Lewis Hamilton and Nikita Mazepin in FP2 all causing stoppages.

Verstappen was on course for the quickest lap of the day when Mazepin lost control of his Haas and beached his car in the gravel, leading to him finishing fifth behind a Ferrari one-two spearheaded by Charles Leclerc.

“I don’t think it looks very representative from our side on the short run because already after one lap the tyres do drop off a bit," said Verstappen. “Nevertheless, we will work on a few things where we were not entirely happy in the short run but the long run looks competitive.

“Of course, that is always very important but we also know that the starting position around here is very important. We will have a look to see with the short run what we can do to make it a bit better.

“Just a few things we need to understand better to get a bit more pace out of it but it is also not very representative because my lap was on a used set and the lap I had to abort I think would have been good enough for first.

“Then, of course, you talk a bit differently but it is never perfect.”

With the grandstands a sea of orange, with fans being handed capes in the Dutch national colour upon entry, Verstappen said: "It was really enjoyable to see all of them in orange and having fun in the grandstands.

"Of course, the track [is enjoyable] as well. It is quite a short lap but a lot of fast corners as well so it was a fun day.”

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