Dutch Grand Prix: Meet the DJ for Max Verstappen’s ‘Orange Army’ grandstands

At July’s Belgian Grand Prix, Jansen was given the “dream” opportunity to DJ on the grid for the very first time before the sprint race after somebody else dropped out. His usual set, heavily influenced by the wants of the Orange Army, went out of the window.

“It’s completely different. We have to play, really, for the VIPs and for the drivers, so it cannot be too loud, it cannot be too hyped up, so it’s very commercial and a little bit less tempo,” he says.

While the tunes might be easier on the ears, the drivers do take notice of what Jansen is playing. After performing on the grid at the following race in Hungary before the summer shutdown, Jansen received a private message.

“It was Charles Leclerc, asking, ‘I heard you play these two tracks, but I cannot find them, can you send them to me?’ And he was on pole position, so he was closest to me and heard the music. It was cool.”

Zandvoort will be another packed weekend for Jansen, but what do the fans make of its impending departure from F1? “Well, we see with the Orange Army, a kind of a decrease with the people,” he says.

And not just at Zandvoort. Jansen highlights the rise in tickets prices as a factor for the Verstappen stands at the Red Bull Ring not selling out this year. There is also an issue, as time goes by, with where the grandstands are located at each track.

“They get the same spot every year,” says Jansen.

“If you’re just a general F1 fan, you can go to the main grandstand one year, and then you go to Turn Four, and so on. But the Max stands, people are always in the same spot – and it’s not always the best spot at the track.

“So, a lot of people are questioning, ‘OK, why should I go, three or four years in a row to see the same kind of action?'”