Thousands of tickets still available for Dutch Grand Prix, says F1 organizer

There are still a few thousand tickets for sale for the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort this weekend, said a spokesperson for the organization behind the Formula 1 event. "In general, we are sold out," he explained, but there are still tickets being returned to the organization from various parties.

This includes resellers in the Netherlands and abroad who get the right to sell blocks of tickets themselves based on prior agreements. A recent lawsuit was filed against the Dutch Grand Prix by one of those reselling firms, Platinum Group.

The company expected to sell 35,000 tickets but was disappointed by the lack of sales. About 8,000 tickets from this company were returned to the organization behind the Dutch Grand Prix.

A large part of these tickets have now been sold, said the spokesperson. "The interest remains undiminished."

Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected in the coastal Noord-Holland town beginning on Friday, when the race car drivers will take part in two free practices. On Saturday, they will participate in the race qualification, and the race itself will take place on Sunday.

Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is currently leading all drivers with 277 points. He is hoping to win his fourth consecutive Dutch Grand Prix, but the defending champion has failed to secure a place on the podium in three of the last four races on the Formula 1 calendar.

Verstappen finished in fourth place at the end of July in Belgium, more than nine seconds behind winning driver Lewis Hamilton. He finished in fifth place in Budapest a week earlier, a race won by Oscar Piastri. Verstappen was second to Hamilton at the British Grand Prix earlier in July, and wound up in fifth at Red Bull's home ground in Austria at the end of June.

George Russel won that race, crossing the finish line more than 37 seconds faster than Verstappen. Despite the recent disappointment, the Dutch driver has seven wins and nine podium finishes this season.