Mercedes planning to play Verstappen out with Bottas: 'Trying to do that'

For Mercedes, there are a number of strategic opportunities to play Max Verstappen off at Zandvoort. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton will start from P3 and P2 respectively, behind the Dutchman, who will start from pole position.

"Red Bull looked pretty quick on the longer distance, so it's definitely not going to be easy to really challenge them. Of course we're going to try though and we have two cars against one of theirs, so that's always good news," Bottas acknowledges to Motorsport Week.

The start very important

"There's always the start, where there will be opportunities and if you look at the strategy, I don't know yet if it's going to be a one-stop or two-stop. Everything is still possible and they won't be miles away, so I'm looking forward to it."

Lewis Hamilton, who will be Verstappen's biggest challenger, is also looking forward to the fight. "I haven't done any long runs yet, so I don't know what this track is going to be like with a lot of fuel. I have no doubt it's going to be tough, I think Max and his team are going to be faster. The start will be very exciting," Hamilton concluded.