Red Bull<\/a> team. Incredibly, he repaid their faith immediately and in his very first outing for the squad, and at 18 years and 228 days old, he became the youngest race winner in F1 history.<\/p>\nSuddenly, the Netherlands had its superstar. It wasn\u2019t just the records that set him apart, but the way he raced: fearless, aggressive, and unafraid to take on established champions. That same fire carried into the paddock, where his blunt answers and meme-worthy one liners to the media made him refreshingly direct and unapologetically himself.<\/p>\n
The Orange Army<\/p>\n
From there, a fan movement exploded. Dutch supporters rallied around Verstappen and began travelling in massive numbers to races across Europe, especially to nearby tracks like Belgium\u2019s Spa-Francorchamps and Austria\u2019s Red Bull Ring. Whole grandstands became seas of orange, the national colour of the Netherlands, creating a carnival-like atmosphere wherever they went.<\/p>\n
In many ways, it redefined what F1 fandom could look like. Italy has Ferrari and their dedicated Tifosi, whose passion runs deep but is tied to one team above all. Britain has its Silverstone loyalists, patriotic and knowledgeable, who turn their home race into a celebration of motorsport heritage.<\/p>\n
The Dutch, however, brought something entirely different. Their fandom wasn\u2019t confined to a single circuit or tied to decades of tradition. Instead, they turned following Verstappen into a travelling movement, more like a football away crowd, with orange shirts, wigs and flags aplenty. They created a visual and vocal spectacle that occupied entire grandstands.<\/p>\n
What makes them stand out even more is that their devotion has grown in lockstep with Verstappen\u2019s dominance. As he racked up victories and World Championships, setting records for consecutive wins and season victory totals, the Orange Army only became louder and more visible.<\/p>\n
The Dutch F1 boom<\/p>\n
The Verstappen effect wasn\u2019t limited to the racetrack. As Dutch FIA Deputy Race Director Claire Dubbelman recalled on the BBC\u2019s Chequered Flag podcast, \u201cThe last time I lived in the Netherlands was around 2015\u20132016, and motorsport was in a very difficult place. When Max entered Formula 1, it\u2019s been the revival of the sport in that country.\u201d<\/p>\n
That revival came into full view in 2021 when the Dutch Grand Prix returned to Zandvoort after 36 years. Tickets sold out within hours, millions tuned in worldwide, and Verstappen delivered the fairytale by winning the first edition. By the following season, attendance at Zandvoort had surged by 81 percent, a clear measure of Verstappen\u2019s influence. He claimed three consecutive victories from 2021 to 2023, all from pole position, before Mclaren\u2019s Lando Norris ended the streak in 2024.<\/p>\n
Sponsors were quick to capitalise. From global giants to local homegrown brands, companies lined up to associate with Verstappen. His face appeared on billboards, in adverts, and across merchandise that stretched far beyond core motorsport circles.<\/p>\n
With that came something larger: a sense of national identity. Verstappen was no longer simply an athlete. He had become a cultural icon, embodying Dutch pride both on and off the track.<\/p>\n
From Zandvoort to the world<\/p>\n
The ripple effects have extended far beyond the Netherlands. The Orange Army is now part of F1\u2019s global identity, their seas of orange as recognisable as Ferrari red or Mercedes silver. Their travelling presence adds spectacle to broadcasts and has inspired other fan groups to raise their game, making races louder, more colourful, and more vibrant.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s rise has opened new doors for the sport. Dutch fans quickly became one of the sport\u2019s fastest growing markets, while the Orange Army\u2019s spectacle turned into a selling point for promoters worldwide.<\/p>\n
Their energy is celebrated in broadcasts, documentaries, and campaigns highlighting a new era driven as much by fans as by the racing itself. And through it all, Verstappen\u2019s story sits at the heart of this shift. His dominance has given his fans more to celebrate, and their devotion has helped redefine the atmosphere of the sport.<\/p>\n
With the Dutch Grand Prix back at Zandvoort this weekend and for the second-last time before a scheduled farewell in 2026, the Orange Army may be gearing up to make its most passionate statement yet.<\/p>\n
Whatever comes next, Verstappen\u2019s legacy is already secure. He did more than win races, he gave the Dutch a reason to fall in love with F1 \u2013 and in doing so, changed how the world experiences it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first glance, the atmosphere could be mistaken for a football match or a summer festival. Grandstands packed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-102224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}