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Formula 1 returns from its summer break this weekend at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix’s farewell to the calendar, with the 12th round of the 2026 season set to be the circuit’s final race in the championship. The event returned in 2021 after a 36-year absence and first ran as a Formula 1 race in 1952. Organizers said they could not make it financially viable, even with sell-out crowds that have often backed home favorite Max Verstappen, and the weekend is expected to be his final home Dutch Grand Prix.

Mercedes’ 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings by 50 points over Lewis Hamilton, with six wins from the season’s 11 races and more than 300 points still available over the remaining 12 rounds. Lando Norris arrives in form after winning in Hungary before the break, where Verstappen finished second and Antonelli was third.

McLaren brings the completed version of its upgrade package to Zandvoort after Norris’s Budapest victory. Aston Martin will introduce Honda’s updated power unit after its chassis gains in Hungary and is aiming for another step forward with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Cadillac also has a new team principal, appointing Marcin Budkowski to replace Graeme Lowdon.

Zandvoort’s farewell weekend will also host its first Sprint event. Track action begins Friday, Aug. 21, with practice at 11:30 a.m. local time and Sprint Qualifying at 3:30 p.m., followed by the 24-lap Sprint on Saturday at 11 a.m., qualifying at 3 p.m. and the 72-lap race on Sunday at 3 p.m. Rain is possible across all three days, with a 60% chance on Friday and shower chances easing later in the weekend.

Honda’s rebuilt Formula 1 project is taking shape around a very different personnel model from its Red Bull-era program, and the change left Aston Martin unaware until November 2025 how much the operation had been reshaped. Honda trackside manager Shintaro Orihara said the company now rotates staff between road-car work and F1, which brought in many newer employees from other projects and left the team short of Grand Prix-specific experience early in 2026. Orihara said Honda still had some staff with Red Bull-era F1 background and uses F1 as a way to develop talent for the wider organization.

After difficult winter testing, Honda brought back several employees from its Red Bull program to add expertise, and Orihara said the team has made strong progress since then. Honda says it is now better placed to improve its power unit and energy management, with its first ADUO upgrade of the year due at Zandvoort. The “spec two” engine is set to debut at the Dutch Grand Prix, and early testing data suggests it could give Aston Martin a major lift in the second half of the season. Honda leaders also believe the updated engine will help Adrian Newey’s AMR26 chassis, though they said more work is still needed to compete at the front.

Orihara said Honda’s goal is to return to Formula 1’s leading power-unit suppliers by late 2027 or early 2028, with further combustion-engine improvements planned for 2027. He said the company will keep focusing on combustion performance and wants bigger gains next year, while also treating chassis integration as another major priority. Orihara warned that the 2027 regulations, including slightly different fuel-flow rules, could bring back reliability problems similar to those Honda faced earlier this year.

Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes went into the summer break on top of both Formula 1 championships, with Antonelli leading the drivers’ standings by 50 points after 11 rounds and Mercedes holding a 72-point advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ race. Antonelli has been Mercedes’ standout in 2026, winning his first Formula 1 race and then four more in a row, while Mercedes’ W17 won the first six races of the season. George Russell’s title chances have faded after a more inconsistent run, and Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris remain among Antonelli’s closest challengers.

The fight has tightened since Monaco. Ferrari moved ahead on form over the next five-race stretch and outscored Mercedes by seven points, with Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Antonelli and Norris each taking one win in that run. Mercedes’ drop-off was linked to reliability problems, and Antonelli’s own campaign has included a penalty at Silverstone after he broke a wheel shield and an engine failure in Barcelona while he was fighting for second place.

The title picture remains open as the season resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix. Upgrades under the new regulations, reliability, penalties, and how quickly the drivers adapt to the new cars could all shape the run-in, with experience and the remaining calendar also in play. Mercedes’ position is strong but not secure, as Ferrari and McLaren have both shown race pace. One forecast says Ferrari will edge Mercedes for the constructors’ championship at the final race, while another sees Antonelli finishing the year as drivers’ champion.