F1 Champ Max Verstappen Will Race Nürburgring 24 In The Gap Between Miami And Canadian Grands Prix

Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen is the unequivocal heel of the F1 paddock. He's overconfident, brash, and combative when things aren't going his way, and he seems to spend much of his time in interviews complaining about regulations and threatening to retire. Entering sports car endurance races in the middle of the F1 season is doing a lot of work to rehab his image, however. Max jumping into the Nürburgring 24 Hour fray with a Mercedes factory-backed top-class GT3 entry, bringing Red Bull sponsorship and some of the best sports car drivers in the world along for the ride, is some real old-school for-the-love-of-the-game type stuff. 

Verstappen and Red Bull announced on Monday that he would enter the manic endurance race on the combined Nordschleife and GP Strecke course this May, in the two-week gap between the Miami Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix. Max will be joined in the #3 Verstappen Racing (entered by Winward Racing) Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Mercedes factory racers Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon, as well as freshly-signed Genesis driver Daniel Juncadella. That's a strong team, to be sure, but Mercedes has not taken the victory at the 'ring endurance round in a decade.

"The Nurburgring is a special place," Verstappen said. "There's no other track like it. The 24h Nurburgring is a race that's been on my bucket list for a long time, so I'm really thrilled we can make it happen now. Last year, I was able to get my DMSB Permit Nordschleife and participate in NLS9, that we won.

"That preparation is very valuable, as we have learned a lot that we can take into our programme this year with NLS2 and the 24-hour race. We've got a strong line-up with Dani, Jules and Lucas and great support from Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. Now it's about putting in the right preparations before the events, so we can maximize everything in the races."

In order to get his license to race at the Nürburgring, Max had to run a test at the track in a Porsche Cayman. In addition to hundreds of hours of simulation racing online, Max entered a round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series in September of 2025, entering with the Emil Frey racing team aboard a Ferrari 296 (above), pairing with Chris Lulham to win the four-hour event. The Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG will also enter the second round of the NLS series this year to prepare the car, team, and Verstappen himself for the 24-hour big show. 

This kind of cross-discipline jumping should be encouraged as much as possible. There was a time when racing drivers would race anything on wheels, but that has been discouraged in recent years with brand deals and insurance policies restricting drivers to just one series at a time. Drivers with Max's level of talent and influence should race as many different cars as they can, and lend their international star power to bringing eyeballs to smaller series. 

This is extremely cool, and I applaud Max for it. I think this is a preview of what we'll see from him when he finally does retire from F1. Max absolutely loves sports car racing, and I appreciate that he's willing to go wherever will take him to get more on-track miles under his belt. He won't have to deal with any super clipping in sports cars, at least. 

Fun fact, if Max were to win this race in May, he'll join the ranks of Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenburg as endurance race winners currently active in Formula 1. Fernando took Le Mans 24 overall victory in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota as well as the 2019 Daytona 24 with Cadillac, while Nico won the 2015 Le Mans 24 with Porsche.