Decline in Max Verstappen and Red Bull form hurting F1 Dutch GP sales: Reports

Image credits: Getty: Max Verstappen at the 2025 Dutch GP
Image credits: Getty: Max Verstappen at the 2025 Dutch GP

Max Verstappen and Red Bull came into the 2025 season as the second-best, with McLaren overtaking them in the performance index. The Red Bull performance has declined as the season has gone by, and reports suggest it's one of the reasons hurting F1’s Dutch GP ticket sales.

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Max Verstappen dominated the 2023 F1 season, winning 19 out of the 22 races. Coming into 2024, McLaren caught up with Red Bull after the Miami GP upgrades pack, but the Dutchman made his early-season lead count and won the title.

However, coming into 2025, with Adrian Newey leaving in 2024, the RB21 was no match for the McLarens. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dominated the first half of the season with 11 wins between them before the summer break. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, only won two races, with the last win coming in at the Emilia Romagna GP.

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Max Verstappen's fans, i.e., the orange army, made up a minor chunk of the audience at the Dutch GP in the past as they supported their home hero. However, Red Bull’s form is believed to be one of the reasons behind the decline of the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.

Reports suggested that just a couple of days before the race weekend at Zaandvoort, tickets for almost all the stands at the circuit were available, whereas in the past they've been sold out much earlier.

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“In the first years, tickets were sold out earlier than now. We have to be more active in selling them” said a circuit spokesperson (via Grandprix.com)

F1 insider and photographer Kym Illman also came out and detailed Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s form as one of the two reasons hurting the Dutch GP sales. He said,

“Dutch GP tickets sales are down big time. Normally this event will be sold out months in advance, but that's not the case this year. Don't expect a full house on Sunday. At this stage, there's still plenty of tickets available in almost every stand.”
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“There is far less for this race than in past years. A lot of people say it's because Max isn't winning. That may certainly have some sort of bearing on it.”
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F1 insider expects Max Verstappen's home race to be a sellout in 2025

In 2024, the organisers of the Dutch GP extended the contract with F1 until the 2026 season. Kym Illman detailed how many fans have attended that race since it got back on the F1 calendar in 2021, which might be another reason behind low sales this year. The F1 photographer expects 2026 to be a sellout as it'll be Zaandvoort's final year on the F1 calendar for the foreseeable future.

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“Next year being Zaandvoort's final race for a long time, we'll probably expect a sellout then,” said Kym Illman

A circuit spokesperson also expects the next year's race to be a sellout.

“We expect that in 2026 the stands will definitely be packed to capacity,” said the circuit spokesperson (via Grandprix.com)

Despite the rumors of a Mercedes move for 2026, Max Verstappen came out at the 2025 Hungarian GP and confirmed that he will be racing for Red Bull next year.

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Edited by Pranay Bhagi
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