F1 Dutch GP preview: Max Verstappen looking to strengthen grip on the title at home race

Formula One leader Max Verstappen returns home to his Orange Army of fans at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend with another world title approaching ominously and a different award already in handThe 24yearold Dutchman was surprised to be appointed an officer in the Order of OrangeNassau mdash a highlyranked merit from the Dutch royal familyIt was something really special also for the whole family a really nice moment Verstappen said ThursdayYou dont expect things like this to ever happen to youLess surprising will be a second straight win at the Zandvoort track on the outskirts of AmsterdamWhen he won last year his fans included Dutch King WillemAlexander Now those mere mortals will all greet him as a world championI mean it was already incredible last year Verstappen saidAmazing atmosphere there will be a lot of orange around so looking forward to the weekendEven at 330 kilometers per hour 205 mph with a race helmet on Verstappen still takes in the Orange hordeYou see the people in front of you they are having a bit of a party going on he saidWhen you drive out as well they are cheering for you and Im just going to try and enjoy itVerstappens army likes letting off flares though and thick orange smoke billowing across tracks has been a concernMaybe too many flares at times It was getting kind of smelly in the car Haas driver Mick Schumacher said And visibility was getting lowWhen Verstappen won at Zandvoort last year he wrestled back the title lead from Lewis Hamilton in a ferocious contest that went to the wire This year its very much Verstappens title to throw awayHe leads Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by 93 points and Ferraris increasingly dispirited Charles Leclerc by 98 Hamilton hasnt even won a race and is 138 points behind Verstappen in sixth spotAnother win would move Verstappen onto 10 victories this season and equal his total last yearAlso Read F2 Jehan Daruvala hoping for troublefree weekend at Dutch GPVerstappens supremacy is such that in the past two races hes won from 10th place in Hungaryand 14th in Belgium with arguably the most assured drive of his careerHe thinks Zandvoort may be less suited to Red Bull car than Spa and so competition could be closerldquoSpa was amazing for us and I think also better than expected Here you run a lot of down force on the car as well completely different track layout less straightline speedrdquo he saidSORRY LEWISThey share nine world titles and 135 wins but Hamilton and Fernando Alonso still needed to make up after last weekends Belgian GP incidentWhen overtaking Alonso on Lap 1 Hamilton clipped the side of Alonsos Alpine which sent Hamiltons Mercedes airborne Alonso felt Hamilton had not left him enough room and rantedldquoWhat an idiot closing the door from the outsiderdquo Alonso said ldquoThis guy only knows how to drive and start in firstrdquoHamilton accepted blame and said he would have spoken to Alonso about it until he heard about Alonsos radio blastldquoI know thats how things feel in the heat of the moment but its nice to know how he feels about me seventime champion Hamilton saidSo the twotime F1 champion Alonso apologized to Hamilton at the Dutch GP and Hamiltons Mercedes team posted a photo of them together on Twitter with both smiling and Alonso holding a Mercedes capldquoI have absolutely no problems with him and I have huge respect for him I apologize Alonso said The heat of the moment the adrenaline fighting finally for the top two top three made me say comments that I should not sayrdquoStill the 41yearold Alonso thinks the incident with Hamilton was hyped upldquoHes a champion hes a legend of our time And then when you say something ndash and Im sorry to repeat this ndash against a British driver there is a huge media involvementrdquo Alonso saidldquoTheyve been saying a lot of things to Checo Perez to Carlos Sainz Jr to me If you say something to a Latin driver everything is a little bit more fun When you say something to others its a little bit more seriousAlonso joked he will now be very quiet on the radioSAINZ DEFENDS FERRARIFerrari has made many debatable strategy calls this season and while Sainz accepts the teams mistakes he claims observers have been too harshldquoThere have been a lot of times during the year where weve done the right calls and no one has come to us to say Oh you did the right call or congratulate us he saidldquoBut on the other hand when theres been two or three lets say call them bad calls with hindsight theres been massive criticismrdquoFerrari made another bizarre decision in Spa by calling in Charles Leclerc for new tires with one lap remaining mdash a futile bid for the fastest lap point that backfiredLeclerc has seen nailedon wins disappear at the Monaco GP and the British GP where team calls dropped him down from a dominant position into fourth place and Sainz won at SilverstoneAt the Hungarian GP before the midseason break another confusing tire strategy call cost Leclerc when he was in a dominant position and he finished sixthSainz feels the spotlight on Ferrari magnifies mistakesldquoWhen I was in McLaren or in Toro Rosso or in Renault when there was a big mistake on strategy no one would come and point it out and criticize you as much as they do in Ferrarirdquo he saidldquoThis is a fact that I think everyone can agree with in Ferrari everything seems bigger The victory is bigger the mistake is biggerrdquoAnd the pressureFerrari has not won the drivers title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 or the constructors crown since 2008This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever