Max Verstappen’s woeful luck on the Nordschleife in 2026 continued with a heartbreaking blow while on course to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours on debut. Verstappen might be partly using the Nurburgring as a glorious distraction from a version of F1 he’s been hating this year, but make no mistake, he had been tirelessly working for months to achieve one clear goal - to win on his Nurburgring 24 debut. And it looked like he and his team-mates Dani Juncadella, Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon had done absolutely everything they needed to do behind the wheel. Here's what we learned from being on the ground at the Nurburgring to see Verstappen's incredible adventure. 00:00 Verstappen's heartbreak 02:00 Verstappen raises the bar 04:29 A race of attrition 06:22 Team Verstappen will return #verstappen #maxverstappen #nurburgring #nordschleife #teamverstappen #therace #nurburgring24hours Subscribe: http://the-race.com/youtube_subscribe The Race Members' Club: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership Website: http://the-race.com/ Twitter: @wearetherace Instagram: @wearetherace Facebook: http://facebook.com/wearetherace Podcasts: http://the-race.com/podcasts
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This race was 1000% better than watching F1s battery management races.
Those first 10 minutes at night were some of the best i’ve seen in racing
Having successfully dodged some hairy situations only to have the car break was gut wrenching.
I watched every lap of Max's every stint.... every corner, every overtake, every fly passing backmarkers was simply mesmerizing. Wow.
I was there. It was a awsome time and the applause for the no3. Merc coming back for 2 laps was awesome. But the star of the show was that Dacia
That Bmw M3 Touring was fast🔥🔥🔥💨
Max Verstappens stints were insane. The onboards were truly heart in mouth moments! Never knew much about GT3 racing before Maxs introduction. Im now a big fan
Following gt for like 15 years max is truly generational driver you see once in 100 years
The fact that 24 Hours of the Nürburgring was completely sold out, for the first time ever, is great for everyone, even if it ended in heartbreak for Team Verstappen. Now, let's start pressuring the FOM/FIA to start scheduling 2 week breaks for this race and Le Mans, going forward. I feel like everyone wins if we do that.
For me personally as somebody who was only into F1, it's turnt me into a fan of endurance racing. I'm just waiting for Le Mans now 😅
Taking his first stint in P10 > handed back the car to teammate in P1 with 25 seconds gap to P2 Then taking the car in P2 with +4 seconds gap > got P1 back and handed the car with 35 seconds gap Refuse to elaborate
The whole event was great. I'm punching myself for not watching more GT races like this in the past. I was glued to my screen from start to my bedtime. It was so much fun and entertainment. Every team and every driver did great out there and the racing was sublime.
Also felt quite sorry for Kevin Estre. A race like this takes a lot of luck as well.
It was my 11th NBR 24h at the racetrack and probably one of the best to watch. The Emotions Verstappen brought to this event are amazing. Hopefully he returns.
Not a Verstappen fan, but I certainly did want him and his team to win. As somebody who doesn't generally follow this type of racing (apart from Le Mans 24h), I was following this race...like everybody else.
This is the pinnacle of motorsport, F1 could never dream of offering this kind of experience.
Welcome to endurance racing. I've seen this happen at Le Mans so many times: Peugeot catching fire in the closing hours (while in the lead), Toyota literally failing on the last lap while leading the whole race. Also, Le Mans verteran Tom Kristensen had his share of bad luck too. While winning more than anyone else, he had some editions where his Audi was plagued with problems. That's why winning is so impressive: you're the one who stayed out of trouble. It's the name of the game:
Max was on another level compared to his teammates in the race. No one could really maintain the gap he was building
Max is savage AF. His talent is on a level that most will never reach
That night stint was pure bliss.