WATCH: Dutch fans singing ‘Du Du Du Du, Max Verstappen’ anthem in full flow ahead of the F1 race in Zandvoort

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen will be looking at winning the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in front of his home crowd. And boosting the three-time world champion's confidence through the race will be the Dutch fans, his so-called 'Orange Army.'

Since the racetrack's reintroduction in 2021, Verstappen has won all of his home races so far. Although comfortably leading the 2024 championship by 78 points over Lando Norris in second place, the young Dutchman has been facing difficulty in keeping ahead of his rivals in the past few races.

The triple F1 world champion qualified second for the race, behind his title challenger Norris. He missed the pole position by over three-tenths of a second, highlighting the pace deficit of his Red Bull Racing RB20 car. Despite the lack of performance, Verstappen will be looking at jumping ahead of the British driver at the start of the race.

Apart from the home-ground advantage, the RBR's star racer has also been getting support from his loyal Dutch fans throughout the weekend. Ahead of the race, the Orange Army was seen singing the now-iconic Verstappen anthem.

A video of the same was shared by a Max Verstappen fan page on X with the caption:

"The fans singing 'du du du du, max verstappen' VERY loudly 😭😭"

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"We just lacked a bit of pace” - Max Verstappen gives a realistic opinion ahead of the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix

Despite being the crowd favorite at the Zandvoort circuit, Max Verstappen was unable to challenge McLaren's Lando Norris in the Qualifying on Saturday. The Dutchman will be starting the race in second place for the race on Sunday.

During several media interactions during the weekend, Verstappen opened up about his toughest Dutch GP weekend since 2021.

“It looks like also there are many more teams involved that can actually win a race, so for sure I’m not coming into this weekend saying that we’re going to win the race. I just want to have a clean weekend, understand the car a bit more, learn from it," Verstappen said, highlighting Red Bull Racing's lack of pace against their rivals.

“I think the whole qualifying we just lacked a bit of pace. I tried the best I could. I’m still very happy of course to be on the front row," Verstappen further added.

Max Verstappen currently leads the driver's table over Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. He has managed to win seven of the 14 races and has finished twice on the podium so far this year.

Highlights of his 2024 season so far were the races at Canada, Austria, Monaco, and Belgium, where he managed to maximize the results despite lacking pace against Ferrari and McLaren.