Max Verstappen will take on the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend in a Red Bull-branded Mercedes-AMG GT3 car as he continues his racing exploits outside of Formula 1.
Verstappen has made six outings at the Nordschleife in the last 12 months to prepare for the iconic endurance race which begins at 2pm on Saturday and will be free to watch live on the Sky Sports app.
Verstappen’s Pursuit of Motorsport Events
Since becoming a four-time F1 world champion at the end of 2024, Verstappen has ramped up his pursuit of conquering some of motorsport’s biggest events.
He’s been clear, even since his early F1 days after making his debut as a 17-year-old in 2015, that he wants to race in other motorsport categories at an age where he’s still fast and competitive.
“All the big endurance races I want to do, it’s something that when I was a kid, my dad was doing them,” Verstappen said in March earlier this year.
“I don’t need to be only an F1 driver, I can also do other things. I’ve done this already for a while, achieved everything I want to achieve so that’s why I want to explore other things and I don’t want to do them when I’m 40 years old. Now is the perfect age to do it.”
The Challenge of the Nurburgring 24 Hours
The Nurburgring 24 Hours is one of the biggest endurance races in the world. This year, 161 cars have been entered to tackle the 15.769-mile circuit which three-time F1 world champion once called “The Green Hell”.
It is unrelenting and regarded by many as the toughest racing track in the world – one which F1 used to race at until 1976 when Niki Lauda had a fiery accident that caused serious injuries.
There are 23 different car classes at the Nurburgring 24 Hours and Verstappen’s team is racing in the top class, which feature the fastest cars – including several Mercedes-AMG GT3, Porsche 911 GT3 R, BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 cars.
Overtaking and Pit Stop Strategies
For the top class drivers, weaving their way through the slower cars from the other car classes is a major part of the race, because accidents can easily happen as they try to make overtakes on the tight Nordschleife circuit. At night, this only gets harder…
The best place to overtake is on the 1.333-mile Dottinger Hohe straight which sees the cars reach over 190mph. Verstappen had a great battle with Christopher Haase in one of the NLS races earlier this year at this part of the track as the pair tried to sidedraft each other.
During pit stops, there could be a driver change as the team changes tyres and adds fuel to the car.
Watch Verstappen and his team-mates in action from 1.30pm (race start at 2pm) on Saturday, live on the Sky Sports app.