Max Verstappen will start his home Grand Prix on pole position after qualifying ahead of Lewis Hamilton. However, the Red Bull star will not have much support from his team-mate because Sergio Perez was unable to get through Q3 and is 16th on the grid.
In contrast, Mercedes have a number of strategies available to them because Valtteri Bottas will start the race in third place.
And Silver Arrows team principal Toto Wolff is confident with his team can snatch the victory.
“We’re P2 and P3, that’s a good starting point,” he said. “I think we need to be satisfied with where we ended up. Lewis missed out a lot yesterday on running and then, at the end, he put one lap together.
“I think if we’re able to have the same pace in the race, it’s gonna be about survival on a one-stop. Max needs to make a decision, is he going for a one-stop or is he going for two.
“But I think we can play both strategies tomorrow and we’ve seen that two cars that can actually go totally different and suddenly we’ll be pitting one, undercutting, massive pressure leaving the other out, and then finishing one-two!”
1.55pm: Today’s race will mark the first running of the Dutch Grand Prix since 1985, when Niki Lauda took the chequered flag for his final victory in F1.
Will it be Verstappen or Hamilton at the end of today’s 72-lap slog? We’re just minutes away from the action.
1.45pm: Elsewhere on the grid, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Nicholas Latifi of Williams will both start from the pit lane after changing parts overnight.
Latifi looked set to qualify well before he followed his team-mate George Russell in crashing out of Q2 to bring out the red flags, while Perez surprisingly failed to make it out of Q1.
Read more from yesterday’s qualifying session here.
1.35pm: Home favourite Verstappen will be backed heavily by the Dutch fans lining the stands at Zandvoort and is confident that he can please the crowd by pipping Hamilton to another race win.
“Obviously I’m looking forward to it tremendously,” the 23-year-old told reporters.
“The support I’ve had this whole weekend is really unprecedented. I hope we can end it on a good note and that of course is a victory.”
Verstappen scraped pole position ahead of Hamilton by just 0.038 seconds at the end of yesterday’s qualifying session.
1.25pm: Hamilton is well aware that he will need a strong first lap to stand the best chance of beating Verstappen today, with the 36-year-old expecting a closely-fought battle at the front of the order.
“I have no doubt it’s gonna be tough,” he told reporters. “Just from watching these guys [Red Bull], I think Max and his team were quicker than us on the long run.
“It’s not a track that you can particularly overtake [on], so it’s going to be [about] strategy and how you can utilise the tyres.
“The start will be fun!”
1.15pm: Good afternoon and welcome to Express Sport’s live coverage of the Dutch Grand Prix where Max Verstappen will be desperate to secure the win in front of his home fans.
The 23-year-old trails Lewis Hamilton by three points in the Drivers’ Championship and will be looking to return to the top of the standings in front of a 70,000-strong partisan crowd.
The last time Verstappen and Hamilton shared the front row was when they crashed on the opening corner at Silverstone.
So grab your popcorn and settle in for what is expected to be a very exciting race!