Max Verstappen’s team was disqualified after he claimed a second GT3 race victory at the Nurburgring ahead of his debut at the iconic circuit’s 24-hour endurance race in May.
Verstappen thought he had won the Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie’s four-hour ADAC Barbarossapreis event alongside teammates Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon for Verstappen Racing, which runs a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
But two hours later, the technical commission discovered his team had used seven sets of tyres instead of the permitted six. Verstappen’s team were disqualified and the win was handed to Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper in the BMW M4 GT3 from Rowe Racing.
Verstappen has already been a vocal critic of F1’s new cars — which he has branded “Formula E on steroids” due to their new emphasis on battery harvesting and boosts — and Saturday’s race will have been a welcome distraction.
Verstappen’s team had taken pole position for the event and ended up winning, on the road, by over a minute although the Dutchman had to recover after losing the lead on the opening lap.
He won a similar event with Chris Lulham in a Ferrari 296 GT3 at a highly publicised debut at the circuit last September.
This time the four-time F1 world champion was competing with his own team to prepare himself for May’s Nurburgring 24 Hours.
Verstappen Racing has entered that event, which will take place on May 16 and 17.
Verstappen will partner Juncadella, Gounon and Lucas Auer at the race.
The German circuit, nicknamed “The Green Hell,” has earned legendary status since it first opened in 1927, but was removed from F1’s race schedule in 1976 after it was considered too dangerous.
Verstappen has made no secret of his desire to explore other types of racing outside of Formula 1 — he also wants to take part in the most famous endurance race of them all, the Le Mans 24 Hours — and his growing frustration with the series will only heighten fascination in his non-F1 activities going forwards.
After the Chinese Grand Prix last week, Verstappen labelled F1’s new cars “a joke” said anyone enjoying the sport’s new battery-boosted overtakes do not understand real racing.
The Red Bull driver, who has a contract with the team until 2028, has made no secret of the fact he would consider quitting F1 if he stopped enjoying it.
