Ready to take on Zandvoort

“After a few days at home I arrived in Holland on Wednesday. I’m happy to return here after last year’s Dutch Grand Prix which had one of the most exciting fan atmospheres, for obvious reasons.

“The Zandvoort track itself is unlike any other on the calendar. It’s very, very small – arguably too small for a Formula One race. But despite this, it offers one of the most enjoyable qualifying laps of the year. It’s narrow, very quick in places, there are elevation changes, banked corners and not a lot of room for error. It really is an exhilarating ride, especially for that one lap.

“The short nature of the track doesn’t always translate into the best racing, but it might be different this year. In a change from 2021 we’re going to be trialing an extended DRS zone on the banking, and that could potentially make it more interesting.

“In performance terms however, the very high downforce required at this track means it might not be one that’s best suited to our car. We’ve seen this year that whenever we’ve had to put the high downforce on we’ve tended to struggle. We seem to be stronger on tracks where we need a more balanced set-up – like Spa, Paul Ricard and hopefully Monza.

“So, maybe this race won’t be as well-suited to the car as we’d like, but I’m feeling positive, raring to go, and you can guarantee that along with the rest of the team I’ll give it everything I can.”