IT’S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we’re excited about ahead of the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix

After three long weekends without a Formula 1 race to look forward to, it’s time to get back to action following the summer shutdown. And there will be plenty of racing to look forward to between now and the end of the season as the second half kicks off with our final visit to Zandvoort.

Racing is back!

Teams and drivers have been enjoying a well-earned rest since the last Race Week feature was required, and they are going to need it ahead of a racing-filled end to the year.

There were six rounds in eight weeks prior to the mandatory two-week factory shutdowns that saw teams taking a break in August, and the races will come thick and fast from this weekend onwards.

In fact, the Dutch Grand Prix is the final standalone race of the season, following the reorganising of the Bahrain Grand Prix to take place in Malaysia in early October. Following this trip to Zandvoort, there will be a double-header of races – in Monza and Madrid – before three consecutive triple-headers to wrap up the championship.

Twelve rounds to go at this point, and that means more than 300 points on offer to the drivers, as they look to reel in current leader Kimi Antonelli.

McLaren the latest winners

Mercedes started the 2026 season by winning the first six races in succession, but the competitive picture at the front appeared to close up the longer the year went on, and they took just two wins from the next five rounds.

While Ferrari were the first team to beat Mercedes over a Grand Prix distance – with Lewis Hamilton victorious in Barcelona and then Charles Leclerc at Silverstone – it was McLaren’s turn to take to the top step in Budapest.

That result gave the defending Teams’ Champions their first win of the season, and came as they introduced the first part of an upgrade package that is due to be completed this weekend at Zandvoort.

Even if there weren’t any further developments planned for the Dutch Grand Prix, it would be interesting to see how McLaren fared on a different type of circuit after their strong showing, but the promise of further updates only adds to the intrigue over whether Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri can offer up a consistent challenge to Mercedes.

That is something Ferrari will also be looking to do, having been Mercedes’ closest rival on average but falling slightly short of their expected performance level in Hungary. With Hamilton having slipped 50 points behind Antonelli over the past two races, can they start to close that gap once again?

Honda’s power unit upgrade

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, we were able to focus on Aston Martin and a significant development package that the team brought to their 2026 car to try and turn their season around.

The upgrade was a success, with a first Q2 appearance for Fernando Alonso, and both cars fighting in the midfield during the race. But it was also just the first step of two significant introductions for the team.

The second comes this weekend, with Honda set to introduce an updated power unit that they hope will provide incremental gains across a variety of areas, and further boost Aston Martin’s competitiveness.

Given the nature of this year’s regulations, it might take some time for Aston Martin and Honda to fully optimise the power unit’s potential, but they will also be aiming to get further performance out of the chassis upgrade in order to display another overall step forward.

A new Team Principal at Cadillac

At the time of writing, the silly season hasn’t really taken off from a driver perspective, with little in the way of movement or contract confirmation as the paddock heads to the Netherlands. But there has been a change at the top of one of the teams.

Last week it was announced that Cadillac had replaced Graeme Lowdon with Marcin Budkowski with immediate effect. The team’s CEO Dan Towriss stated it was a decision he made with the next phase of Cadillac’s development in mind.

Lowdon had been a pivotal figure in helping prepare Cadillac for their debut in F1 this season, hiring staff and playing a role in building the team that joined the grid at the start of the year. But in Budkowski they now have a Team Principal with experience across Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine and the FIA among others.

The Polish engineer first visited the Cadillac factory at Silverstone on Monday and will be present in the Netherlands this coming weekend, as he looks to settle in and identify where improvements can be made in both the short-term and with the team’s longer-term future in mind.

Zandvoort’s final race

The host of the first race back after the summer break since 2023, the Dutch Grand Prix has always provided a huge amount of energy to kick-start the second part of the season.

Ever since the race returned to the schedule in 2021, it has seen a huge crowd – largely supporting home favourite Max Verstappen – turn out to have a party among the sand dunes on the coast of the North Sea. But after extending its hosting contract for one extra year, this weekend marks the final visit to Zandvoort before it drops off the calendar.

It’s a track that blends high-speed corners and significant undulations with severe banking, while the weather can also play a role as we’ve seen conditions range from high temperatures to strong winds and heavy downpours across the past five years.

For its final edition, Zandvoort will play host to a Sprint weekend, providing extra competitive action on both Friday and Saturday and demanding the drivers get up to speed quickly in the one practice session available to them.

It’s the first time Zandvoort has hosted the Sprint, and with the current weather forecast suggesting rain could impact all three days of track running, we could be in for an action-packed weekend to celebrate the race’s farewell.