The massed ranks of orange shirts in the grandstands (plus the odd flare or 10) at European grands prix demonstrate Max Verstappen’s massive home support. But this isn’t a case of a country discovering Formula 1 overnight because of one person. Formula 1 fever has been growing, in need of an outlet, for many years – despite the faltering support of domestic sponsors…
WORDS MARCUS SIMMONS PICTURES AND SHUTTERSTOCK
THE DUTCH FLAGS, EMBLAZONED with the name of the country’s motorsport hero, flew as the crowd’s favourite sped to victory around Zandvoort. There were an estimated 60,000-plus of them, putting the attendance of many grands prix to shame. But this wasn’t a GP. It wasn’t even Formula 1. It was the 1993 Marlboro Masters of Formula 3. And the flags proclaimed ‘Jos The Boss’ in honour of the young Verstappen who, they were sure, was about to take the world of F1 by storm.
The Netherlands and Zandvoort had lost their Grand Prix after the 1985 race, yet still the country retained a motorsport culture and was crying out for an F1 star. “We never had a talent that big in our country,” reflects Frits van Amersfoort, whose first visit to a racetrack was for the 1967 Dutch GP, got into the sport by running the Formula Ford car of Huub Rothengatter, and had overseen Verstappen – who was managed by Rothengatter, by now an ex-F1 Spirit, Osella and Zakspeed battler – to the 1992 Benelux Opel Lotus title. “Of course we had F1 drivers in the past – the most known one was Jan Lammers, and we also had Huub. But they were hardly successful, and all of a sudden we had Jos who was highly successful in F3, helped by an immense campaign organised by Huub. As Jos came from the southern province of Limburg, he already had the whole province behind him and that made him very popular.”
Verstappen made it to the F1 grid in 1994, but it was in a Benetton team alongside Michael Schumacher. “Jos was pretty good but he ran against Michael, and he just had the 3, 4, 5% more ability than Jos,” points out John ‘Hans’ Hugenholtz Jr, a racer who has been a prime advocate of helping young Dutch talent, and whose father was managing director of the Zandvoort track from 1949-73, and designed circuits at Suzuka, Jarama and Zolder.
Hugenholtz Sr is also immortalised in the naming of the banked left-hand hairpin behind the Zandvoort paddock, Hugenholtzbocht: “The circuit at the time was owned by the local town and they always ran short of budget, so they couldn’t give my father a proper present but they gave him a corner – much better than getting a gold watch or
