It’s been about 6 weeks since I got back from my Swiss-Amsterdam trip (which included my first overseas f1 race) and I was pretty much sitting on the fence on whether I want to write about it because Zandvoort is leaving the f1 calendar which means that whatever I am planning to write out wouldn’t really be useful for anyone in planning their travels anymore. Then again, this website/blog of mine has already evolved from being a travel planning site to just my nonsense ramblings so I guess I should still just continue to write and share whatever I want to, since at the end of the day, the ultimate reader would be my future self. Here we go.
As I write, the Sepang (Malaysia) / Bahrain Grand Prix just ended a couple of hours ago and it was a massive entertainment circus. Basically, everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The rain was super heavy at the start, and then they decided to wait for the rain to stop. When they decided to restart and do the formation lap, half the grid went haywire and they botch the start and the wait continue. Eventually, the race started 1.5 hours later than the original start time and it was a mess of strategies with some teams gaining, some teams losing and then there were crashes (to the wall), many overtakes and yoyo racing, max leading and losing and then leading, george having a PU failure, Lando into the gravel and Lewis fighting real hard for the final spot on the podium. Well, at the end of the day, it was Max, Kimi and Lewis. The podium finish of world champion(s) – I hope this statement ages well, and someone on IG said it was the past, the present and the future all in one photo. Where was my McLaren during the race? Forgettable. But we will do better in Singapore.
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Okay sorry for the extra long opening digress of my main piece.
The happy/sad part about F1 races was that the ticketing starts way in advance. I have (am still having) a lot of issues with commitment to the future but when you’re planning for an overseas F1 trip, indecisiveness is not something you want to have. So, it started when I mentioned that I really want to experience watching F1 overseas and my more seasoned friend (who has been to Melbourne, Shanghai, Suzuka) was like, how about Zandvoort? It’s gonna be the last year, plus she was a Red Bull/Max fan. At this point in time, I don’t exactly have many friends that watch F1 and I still don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of finding other fans so my travel options are pretty limited. Yes of course, I could travel alone but I still like the preference on halving accommodation cost if possible. Anyway, the ‘turning point’ of my decision was when Singapore Airlines announced that they were going to increase the miles for redemption tickets by a certain date in October and I was like ‘oh shit, I don’t want to lose out’, so I found a like-minded friend and bundled the Amsterdam trip with Switzerland. I left the ticketing decision to my friend, and they decided to go for the 2 day Sat-Sun ticket option. There was gonna be a Sprint race on Saturday as well so that’s like a huge plus point.
Given that I have only attended F1 races in Singapore and Amsterdam, the only thing I could ‘compare’ my experiences with was the Singapore experience. There were the good things and the not-so-good things, but let’s break it down bit by bit.
To get to the racetrack, we departed from the main train station in Amsterdam, which promised that the frequency of the trains would be every 5 mins. It was a little funny because they renamed the train after their driver – “Max Express”. It’s quite a nice gesture for them to do it and I think they do it every year. In fact, if you read about the history of how/why Amsterdam bid for the f1 race, a huge reason could be attributed to the rise of Max Verstappen. Unlike most races in the world, the Zandvoort racing rights were not state-sponsored, and not all locals supported having the race in the country. Despite racing for 6 years, the company behind it was in fact still losing money despite selling out the tickets and without the state sponsorship, it was no longer sustainable to continue, given that the bidding rights were getting more and more expensive. Anyway, they made the call to bow out and it was right to give the race a proper farewell.
Anyway, on Saturday (Day 2), the sprint race was starting at 12 noon so we catered like 2.5 hours to make our way there. If I don’t recall wrongly, the train ride was under 30 mins. There were long queues outside the station and we joined the crowd, slowly inching forward bit by bit. According to the time stamps on the photos in my phone, we took about 1 hour 10 mins to board the train. We were lucky to have gotten a seat for that 30 mins ride. After reaching the Zandvoort station, we had to walk for about 30 mins to get to the entrance.
The walk from the station to the track was pretty beautiful and it reminded me a lot of the boardwalk at “Point Pleasant Beach” in New Jersey, where I did my working holiday back in my younger days. The weather was sunny and windy at the same time so it was still quite bearable. There were many activation booths along the way by sponsors and advertisers, so it was a long but not boring walk. From the entrance to our seats at Arena Out, we brisked walk like crazy and managed to be seated exactly at 12pm, right before the flag off for the sprint. Towards the end of the sprint, it started drizzling and we wore our transparent raincoats. The weather had be pretty fussy the whole day and over the courst of the next two days, I wore and removed my rain coat at least 5 times. Lando started the sprint race in second and ended up in third at the finishing line.
After the sprint race, we went over to get some food and drinks. The food prices were just slightly elevated, but I would still consider them decently priced. Heineken was at 5 euros (small pint) and that’s quite a steal (compared to singapore with high alcohol tax). I also paid $5 for my bottle of Pepsi. As Pepsi was a sponsor, you won’t be able to find coke inside the racetrack. I queued for about 15 to 20 mins for my smashed burger (12.95 euros).
There was about 2.5 hours between the sprint race and the qualifying, so we had sufficient time to fill our stomachs, refill our bottles at the water point, use the (portable) toilets, window-shopped at the merch booths which was surprisingly not that expensive. I think the ‘Orange Army’ shirt was just selling at 12 or 15 euros which I felt was a complete steal.
For qualifying, it was perfect because Lando came in first. I kind of agreed to come to Zandvoort because I knew it was a race that Lando is usually good at, minus the 2025 drama. I guess it was a good decision after all because he eventually managed to convert is pole into victory!
For race day, the race only started at 3pm which means that we could have a comfortable brunch before heading to the race track. Given that it was a late start, the crowd was dispersed and unlike the day before, we didn’t have to queue a long time at the station before getting into the train. We also left about 1 hour earlier after the lesson of yesterday. As a result, we were rather early and decided to take a longer stroll along the beach.
Most of the Max merch was sold out as well.
There was also a booth giving out free coke – yay – as I am a 100% coke fan. I really don’t enjoy Pepsi, and yes, I can taste the difference.
Another thing that I came into ‘realization’ after attending this F1 race was that I finally figured out the reason why races like these usually come with concert stages after the race. Yes, it might be another way to boost ticket sales but the other unspoken reason was that the concert was a way to thin out the crowd that is leaving the circuit in order to put less stress on the public transport. There would always be a group that only care about the racing – and these group would rush to leave the moment the race ends. If there was possibly a good concert lineup, half the crowd could stay on a little longer and this would reduce the crowd. I thought it was pretty interesting after I came to the realisation of that. The concert lineup for Zandvoort was Martin Garrix which was kind of cool but also not cool enough for me to wait like 3 to 4 hours more for his set. Oops.
Also, unlike Singapore, there was no queue/crowding at the concert stage. Back in Singapore, I’ve seen videos of fans running into the stage area the moment the gates open as they wanted to ‘camp’ the barricade spots for their idols but I guess here in Zandvoort, motor racing fans are the majority. There was no one at all ‘camping’, and the random DJ music was pretty good and it got the crowd dancing around, wherever they are. Also, the whole day, everyone everywhere was singing du du du du Max Verstappen, plus they played the song ‘The Final Countdown’ a couple of times too. The pre-race show was really good as well though I don’t know any of the singers.
Here’s a shot of the champ on the screen before we made our way out of the circuit fast. If there was one thing I was rather unhappy with – it was all that peeing into nature at the end of the race. They were drinking too much beer and had to hold everything in for 1.5 hours and the moment the race ended, the men were all peeing into the corners/fences and it was pee smell everywhere. They don’t even bother about the portable pee pens around but at least they only did it on the last day. At least the crowd in Singapore/Asia is more civilized. I don’t think I’ve witnessed anyone peeing at the roadside before in such major events.
On the way out of the circuit to the train station, we were directed to the ‘village’ area which was full of partying and celebration. In all honesty, I don’t know how people can still celebrate when their favourite drive crashes out of the race at Lap 1. Oops. but I guess everyone is just celebrating it as ‘The Final Lap” and the last chance to party and sink in the atmosphere. The lively atmosphere made the long walk and wait for the train more bearable.
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Overall, it was an enjoyable race to watch and country to be in (minus all that Weed smell). I’m glad to have the chance to experience it before it was all over. Also, such expensive hobbies also gave me the chance to visit new places and be decisive on a place to go for a holiday. Of course, watching a race would be much more comfortable in front of the TV screen where you get to see the replays, listen to the strategies and blah but there’s something electrifying in the atmosphere of being physically present at a sports venue (like my first and only Manchester United match). I won’t be doing it often but it is definitely something I want to ‘feel’ once in a while to soak in all that atmosphere.
That being said, I have 2 more races lined up – next week in Singapore and something else I booked for in 2027 (It shall remain a mystery for now). Sorry that my post didn’t go down the way I intended it to be but I guess it’s still a fun post with lots of memoreis and fun times.
Ending off with this amazing roving brass band performance that stopped right in front of us randomly.
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