Max Verstappen rolls into the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend with a chance to do something no active Formula 1 driver has done since Niki Lauda: win the Green Hell's signature endurance classic while still in the middle of a full F1 campaign. And the four-time world champion says the entire foundation of his preparation came from a screen and a steering rig, not a real cockpit.
Verstappen will share the #3 Verstappen.com Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Lucas Auer and Maro Engel. Top qualifying on Friday confirmed the team's grid position for Saturday's race start, and Verstappen has already been seen running wet laps overnight earlier in the week — pictures from the cockpit during damp practice showing a grin that has not exactly been the norm in his 2026 Red Bull RB22.
Asked how he had got up to speed on the most fearsome circuit in racing so quickly, Verstappen pointed straight at his simulator hours.
"It started in the sim," he 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."
The historical bar he is trying to clear is high. The 24-kilometre Nordschleife has drawn F1 drivers across the decades, but most of them either raced there before reaching grand prix racing or returned to it after retirement. Lauda combined the two — a feat that has remained essentially untouched in the modern era. Verstappen, mid-title-defence and still under contract through 2028, would push the marker forward in a way no peer has even attempted.
The Nurburgring 24 is also brutally unpredictable. Cars run for an entire day and night across one of the most demanding layouts in motorsport, with traffic from far-slower classes, fast-changing weather windows, and overnight reliability concerns all capable of flipping a leading entry off the podium in seconds. Even with Mercedes-AMG GT3 machinery — a serial winner of this race — outright victory is anything but guaranteed.
What is certain is that the appearance of an active four-time world champion at the front of the field is a statement in itself. With F1's new regulations attracting criticism from drivers about energy management and racing intensity, Verstappen's increasing investment in GT racing reads as more than a hobby — it looks like a deliberate parallel chapter he intends to keep building.
