Max Verstappen gets a taste of the full brutality of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring on his debut: A broken driveshaft costs him the victory three and a half hours before the finish
Max Verstappen got a firsthand taste of the notorious toughness of the Nordschleife during his debut at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (race report): The Dutchman was comfortably in the lead alongside Lucas Auer, Daniel Juncadella, and Jules Gounon when a broken driveshaft brought the race to an abrupt end.
The four-time Formula 1 world champion had just handed the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 over to teammate Juncadella about three and a half hours before the checkered flag when the first problems with the right rear wheel became apparent, starting with an ABS warning in the cockpit, which the Spaniard was able to clear, however.
Shortly thereafter, however, vibrations and unusual noises also set in, prompting the 3 Verstappen AMG to make an unscheduled pit stop. There, the mechanics immediately began troubleshooting, discovering a defective drive shaft that had already caused significant secondary damage.
The experienced Winward team then worked to get the AMG GT3 back on the track for the final laps. By that point, however, the top positions had long since been lost; in the end, Verstappen and his teammates finished in 38th place overall.
Max Verstappen off to a strong start, but a moment of panic
A tragic result for Verstappen and his teammates, who had delivered a nearly flawless performance until the unexpected failure on Sunday afternoon: Daniel Juncadella took the wheel at the start of the race on Saturday at 3 p.m. and handed over to rookie Max Verstappen for the first time during the first pit stop after about an hour.
The Dutchman experienced a scare as early as his first lap on the fast Pflanzgarten section when he drifted slightly off the ideal line and missed the guardrail by just millimeters. Unfazed, the four-time world champion stabilized his pace and quickly made up for the small loss of time.
“Yes, we had a little incident,” the Dutchman summed up afterward with a smile. “I think I turned in a little too early, and then we had that little incident there. But that was fine. You just have to keep your cool, stay calm, and refocus.”
As his first double stint continued on Saturday afternoon, Verstappen even worked his way up to the front of the field, overtaking Manthey’s popular “Grello” Porsche in the process—a car that briefly skidded on an oil spill, crashed into the track barrier, and consequently retired early.
“You try to stay out of trouble,” said Verstappen after his first stint in the 24-hour race. “But at the same time, you have to push and try to drive at the limit, which is always a difficult compromise. But it worked out well.”
Crazy duel against AMG teammate Maro Engel
The second time Verstappen took the wheel of the 3 Winward Mercedes was during the night, when a heated duel developed against AMG works driver and teammate Maro Engel: The two rivals engaged in a fierce battle for the lead over several laps.
In one of the fastest sections of the legendary Nordschleife, the two even made contact, though both drivers escaped unscathed. In the end, Verstappen finished just ahead of Engel before handing the GT3 car back to his teammates, who continued to extend their lead throughout the night.
From that point on, there was essentially no chance for the sister car to retake the lead, as the two Winward team cars pitted simultaneously at every pit stop, with the Verstappen-AMG’s lead at times growing to over 30 seconds. The outcome of the race seemed all but decided.
Max Verstappen “tried to play it safe”
On Sunday morning, Verstappen completed his third double stint, again without any problems or incidents. “Yes, it was good,” the Dutchman reported afterward, satisfied. “I just tried to play it safe while, of course, maintaining a decent pace.”
“It felt good, the car was running well, so I just tried to stay out of trouble. On the last lap, it was really close when two cars made contact right in front of me, but luckily everything turned out okay.”
“So far, it couldn’t be going any better, but there are still a few hours to go, so we just have to stay really focused and then we’ll see where we end up,” Verstappen emphasized, just minutes before disaster struck.
Faulty driveshaft dashes all hopes of victory
About three and a half hours before the checkered flag, when the Mercedes quartet led by Verstappen was comfortably in the lead with a roughly 30-second advantage, the driveshaft gave out. Although the chances of victory were already gone, the team, together with the drivers, decided to proceed with the time-consuming repair.
“We spoke with Max, we spoke with the other drivers, and of course everyone is extremely disappointed after battling for the lead with the sister car for so long,” said Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing.
“But we decided to get the car ready and go out again for the final laps to show it to the fans.” About 15 minutes before the end, Juncadella left the pits once more to see the checkered flag. However, victory went to the sister car driven by Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller, Luca Stolz, and Maxime Martin.