Welcome to our regular post-race round-up, a final look at the action, where we’ll break down the best and the bonkers of F1 from across the weekend. From our favourite photos to the slickest fits we spotted, plus all the behind-the-scenes goodness you might have missed.

After a brief break from racing due to F1’s summer shutdown, the Dutch Grand Prix presented a welcome return to normality. Although, it was a weekend of contrasting emotions on track in Zandvoort, as Oscar won for the seventh time this season, converting Pole, while Lando suffered an unfortunate retirement despite showing strong pace throughout the Grand Prix.

Away from the track, our Marketing Team wasted no time getting back up to speed. They started the weekend on the front foot, following up a major announcement on Wednesday with a fun fan giveaway, a unique driver arrival image, and a controversial food-themed take from Oscar on Thursday, all before we’d clocked any mileage. Here, we’ll look back over those moments and more.

Moment of the weekend
A priceless performance

Calvin Harris performing a DJ set in Amsterdam, papaya-clad in McLaren merchandise, wouldn’t have been on many bingo cards ahead of the season.

The Scottish artist, who hails from Dumfries, was joined by Zak Brown, Lando and Oscar at a live fan event in the Netherlands, as we announced that we would become the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team from 2026 onwards.

On stage, Zak, Lando, and Oscar shared details of the partnership, revealing our new team name and how it will allow us to offer our fans even more exclusive, behind-the-scenes access and one-of-a-kind experiences.

Best of social media
Passing the baton

The surprised become the surpriser. At the Dutch Grand Prix 12 months ago, we gave McLaren mega fan Bo a once-in-a-lifetime experience, gifting her with Paddock Club hospitality tickets.

And this year, Bo returned the favour. Armed with a fresh set of tickets, we set her off on a mission to find her successor. Bo decided to return to the same spot where she received her surprise last year. There, she found two more well-deserving members of the Papaya Army, and gleefully passed on the luxury VIP treatment.

The interaction between the three of them was extremely heartwarming, as Bo revealed to her fellow fans that she knew what an amazing weekend they were in for.

 

From one surprised fan to another 🧡

A day the Papaya Army won’t forget ✨#McLaren | #DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/BK1ZCStjie

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 29, 2025

Outfit of the weekend
A work of art

Designed by Sophie Tea Art, in partnership with Mastercard, Ella Lloyd’s lid stole the show this weekend.

Sophie - who is “all about making women feel just a little bit nicer about themselves” - created this limited-edition design for Ella to wear during this weekend’s round in Zandvoort, where the Welsh racer achieved a pair of P4 finishes.

Photograph of the week
Seeing double

Driver arrivals have become a key part of Formula 1 culture.

Every morning from the Thursday of a race week, fans eagerly anticipate the first sighting of drivers from across the grid as they check into the paddock. Will it be a video or an image? What will they be wearing? What sort of mood are they in? Arrivals set the tone and are how fans know the day has truly started, highlighting that it’s time for them to lock into the F1 action.

That anticipation is heightened after any form of break, such as the recent summer shutdown. After a few weeks off, fans were excited to see Lando and Oscar at the track for the first time since Hungary… but what was delivered onto their social media timelines wasn’t their standard arrival photo.

We spoke with the content creator behind the shot and asked them how they achieved this unique image.

“I created this image by masking/layering several images together into one,” they explained. “To begin with, I found a position in the Team Hub to set the camera and placed it on a tripod to ensure that every image had the exact same frame and there was no movement. Fortunately, in the paddock at Zandvoort, the Team Hub was facing directly opposite the entrance, which meant that I could go up to the second floor and shoot through the window from a height. Then, I waited for the drivers to arrive one by one and took a burst of photos as they arrived.

“That was the easy part. The trickier part was editing all of the selected images together. I dragged all of the best images onto our image editing software and carefully created masks and cutouts of each driver at different points of their walk into the paddock. The hardest part was cutting around the other people who were around them.

“I even included a little easter egg - there were four Lando’s, to mark his driver number - which fans picked up pretty quick! This image became a fun way for fans to engage with us, where they had to look for our drivers, kind of like Where's Wally!”

Quote of the weekend
Wafflin' 

“Controversial take: I think stroopwafels are massively overrated”

On this occasion, the quote of the weekend has been chosen for all the wrong reasons. We’re not sure what stroopwafels did to Oscar to prompt such an outrageous take, but it’s out there now, and we can’t unhear it.

For the record, our stance remains unchanged: stroopwafels are a delicacy and most certainly not overrated.

 

Stroopwafels… yay or nay? 🧇#McLaren | #DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/4npgpA2PDK

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 28, 2025

You may have missed

On what would have been Bruce McLaren’s 88th birthday, Oscar and Pato O’Ward delivered a fitting tribute to our revered founder, whose ambition was to succeed in as many of the world’s biggest racing series as possible. 

Both drivers put in a fantastic shift on Saturday, as Oscar took his fifth F1 Pole of the season in Zandvoort, while Pato claimed the same honour for the second time this year, in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES finale in Nashville.

What’s next?

We'll be back on track before you know it! Lando and Oscar are on their way to Monza as we speak for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.