When Formula 1 returned to the Netherlands last year after a 36-year absence, the massed fans roared local hero Max Verstappen to a victory that saw him regain the lead in a championship he would go on to win.

While the Zandvoort grandstands will be no less raucous this time around, there is likely to be more of a party mood as Verstappen arrives on the verge of becoming a two-time world champion.

The Red Bull driver is unable to wrap up his second title this weekend but with a 93-point lead in the standings, he has more than one hand on the trophy.

Ferrari are still their own worst enemy

Charles Leclerc would have allowed himself to dream after building a 34-point lead over the first three races of the season but since then it has all gone wrong for the Monegasque driver and his Ferrari team.

A series of strategic errors, combined with a couple of mistakes from Leclerc himself, have seen their title challenge fall apart. 

The 24-year-old begins Dutch GP weekend third in the standings, five points adrift of Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez after another disastrous outing in Belgium.

Starting 15th on the grid due to a penalty for changing engine parts, the Ferrari ace had to pit on the first lap to remove litter from a brake duct.

Then, running fifth late in the race, the team pitted Leclerc for fresh tyres in a failed attempt to claim the extra point for fastest lap. 

Having broken the pitlane speed limit in the process, the Monegasque picked up a time penalty which dropped him to sixth.

However, there is still plenty of speed in the Ferrari, particularly over a single lap, and the twisty Zandvoort circuit should suit the car better than Spa did last week.

Mercedes still looking for answers

Mercedes' hopes of an eighth consecutive constructors championship have been long since extinguished but they went into the summer break on a positive note with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell having both finished on the podium in the previous two races.

With Russell having claimed the team's first pole position of the season in Hungary, they would have had high hopes of resuming their accustomed position at the head of the field sooner rather than later.

Hamilton was shocked to be 1.8 seconds off the pace in qualifying in Belgium last week and a first-lap collision with former team-mate Fernando Alonso led to his first retirement of the season.

But Russell's race pace compared favourably with the Ferrari's at Spa and since going fast around Zandvoort is less dependent on top speed, the Silver Arrows could well enjoy a much stronger weekend in the Netherlands.

Prediction

Verstappen is very hard to oppose in his current form and when he won in Zandvoort last year by over 20 seconds, only two other drivers finished on the lead lap.

However, Leclerc has scored seven pole positions this season and it would not be the biggest surprise if he had Red Bull's measure over a single lap.

Meanwhile, there are reasons to think Mercedes could be set for a much better weekend than last time, when they ended a run of six straight races with at least one car in the top three.