Max Verstappen lines up at the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend with a chance to become the first active Formula 1 driver since Niki Lauda to win the historic endurance race on the Nordschleife — and the four-time world champion says his preparation for it started not in a real car, but at his desk.
Verstappen will share the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Verstappen.com Racing with Lucas Auer and Maro Engel, after the team navigated top qualifying on Friday to confirm its grid position for the 24-hour classic. It is the most ambitious sports-car commitment of his career, slotted into a three-week Formula 1 gap between the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix.
Speaking ahead of the race, Verstappen explained why a circuit famed for catching out even experienced sports-car professionals held no real mysteries for him before his first real laps.
"It started in the sim," Verstappen said. "I did thousands of laps to familiarise myself with the circuit and took part in several 24-hour races in the virtual Nurburgring. When I drove here for real for the first time, knowing the track wasn't an issue. It was about understanding the kerbs and the grip levels."
That preparation has already paid off. Verstappen has rolled through qualifying and a wet shakedown session, including running in the dark earlier in the week, with a comfort level that surprised some inside the paddock. Photographers picked out a wide smile from inside the cockpit during damp practice — a far cry from his more visibly frustrated body language in the RB22 across the opening rounds of the new F1 era.
The historical context for what he is chasing is significant. The Nurburgring 24 Hours has a long list of F1 names on its entry lists over the decades, but most have raced there either before reaching Formula 1 or after their grand prix careers had ended. Lauda is the standout exception — the Austrian famously combined a full F1 schedule with success at the Nordschleife. Verstappen joining that small club, while still mid-title-defence as a four-time champion, would be a genuine first for his generation.
It also extends a pattern in his 2026 season. With the new F1 regulations pulling complaints from drivers across the grid about energy management and reduced wheel-to-wheel intensity, Verstappen has been the loudest voice arguing the sport has lost some of its purity. His openly enthusiastic GT3 programme — and the way he talks about it — looks like a deliberate counterweight.
Whether the race itself goes his way is far from guaranteed. The Nurburgring 24 Hours is notoriously brutal on machinery, often decided by weather windows, traffic in the Green Hell, and overnight reliability rather than outright pace. But the result almost matters less than the statement. Even as critics question his commitment to F1's new era, Verstappen has very deliberately put himself on a 24.4-kilometre stage to remind everyone what he can do in a car he actually wants to drive.
Source: youtube.com