Max Verstappen GT Adventures

[Wouter]

Max Verstappen vs SuperGT Pro

Last night, Red Bull released the video showing Verstappen driving the Nissan onto the wet Fuji circuit. Super GT driver Miyake did a few runs first, setting a fastest time of 1:44.075. Afterward, Verstappen got to show what he was capable of, and he amazed everyone present.

Despite the wet conditions, he managed to adapt to the car immediately. On his first lap, he fell just short of beating Miyake's time, but on his next lap, Verstappen set a time of 1:42.290.

His performance caused immense astonishment for presenter Jeremiah Burton, who watched with his mouth wide open: "That is bizarre! He is just a tenth of a second off that time in his second lap ever in this car. That is insane!"

Red Bull Motorsports
1.000.162 views 7 May 2026

Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen heads to Japan’s legendary Fuji Speedway for a high-stakes challenge against a real Super GT pro.

In brutal wet conditions, Max has one mission: beat the benchmark lap time set by a Japanese Super GT driver around one of the most iconic circuits in motorsport. But with standing water, zero grip, and visibility getting worse every lap, this turns into far more than just a time attack.

Ahead of his highly anticipated debut at the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring in the GT3 Category, this is Max Verstappen pushed out of the Formula 1 comfort zone and into the unpredictable world of Japanese Super GT racing.

Can the four-time F1 World Champion adapt fast enough to beat a Super GT specialist in the rain?.

[FW17]

Ford confirms talks with Verstappen on future WEC Hypercar role

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/insight/ ... xmode=ruby

[venkyhere]

a very nice article where a GT veteran evaluates Verstappen's GT exploits :
https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verst ... g-analysis

[Wouter]

Thursday 14 May, 13:10 h. CEST.



Live timing ▶ https://go.24h-rennen.de/LiveTiming


Onboard action ▶ https://go.24h-rennen.de/onboards

[De Wet]

Proper racing again this weekend...

[Wouter]

...
... The driver in front of me is distracted by an F1 WC.

...

[venkyhere]

I've been following the race for the first 5hrs, and based on 'relative speed/laptime w.r.t other GT3 SP9 cars (track conditions although varying, are same for all at any given time)', Max seems to be the fastest driver within the team & Juncadella the next fastest. Jules Gounon seems like the weakest link in this driver quartet (haven't seen Auer yet) - he is consistently 5-6s slower than the SP9 cars around him, any lap, any track condition.

[1158]

I've been following the race for the first 5hrs, and based on 'relative speed/laptime w.r.t other GT3 SP9 cars (track conditions although varying, are same for all at any given time)', Max seems to be the fastest driver within the team & Juncadella the next fastest. Jules Gounon seems like the weakest link in this driver quartet (haven't seen Auer yet) - he is consistently 5-6s slower than the SP9 cars around him, any lap, any track condition.

Gounon was very timid around slower traffic. That's where the bulk of the time loss was coming. Other SP9s are attacking the traffic and Gounon was apprehensive. I understand being cautious early in the race, but he lost 40ish seconds in his first stint alone. The rain was timed perfect to get him out of the car and punished those ahead of the sister Mercs.

[FW17]

Compared to Lemans 24h where there are lot of straight sections to get past slower cars, Nordschleife in a completely different level.

[venkyhere]

I have to say, Max has silenced all his critics, whether his team wins the race or not.
Clearly the fastest amongst the 8 drivers racing the Windward prepped AMGs. I didn't expect him to be this good, compared to the much more experienced drivers amongst the 8. The main windward team is the stronger one, driving wise, the 80 car has always been more pace-y than the 3 car, except when Max is driving.
The running theme has been : the other 3 drivers run their stints with laptime deficit to the sister team, then Max does a double-stint and builds a massive 20+/30+ second lead, only for the other drivers in his team to lose that advantage. So no guarantees that Verstappen racing is going to be the winner amongst the two front runners.

Verstappen has laid down a new marker. Respect grows.

[De Wet]

Max's car is out...

[Gillian]

I have to say, Max has silenced all his critics, whether his team wins the race or not.
Clearly the fastest amongst the 8 drivers racing the Windward prepped AMGs. I didn't expect him to be this good, compared to the much more experienced drivers amongst the 8. The main windward team is the stronger one, driving wise, the 80 car has always been more pace-y than the 3 car, except when Max is driving.
The running theme has been : the other 3 drivers run their stints with laptime deficit to the sister team, then Max does a double-stint and builds a massive 20+/30+ second lead, only for the other drivers in his team to lose that advantage. So no guarantees that Verstappen racing is going to be the winner amongst the two front runners.

Verstappen has laid down a new marker. Respect grows.

Anyone criticizing the absolute talent and speed of Verstappen can not be taken seriously, but I think there are not a lot of people who do that.

His speed has been insane, over a second faster in some parts of the circuit. A win would have been nice, but that will come some day.

[Wouter]

Mercedes comes with explanation for problems team Verstappen

Published on 17 May 2026 12:24

The 24 Hours of the Nürburgring has turned out to be a big drama for Max Verstappen's team. They had a huge lead over the sister car #80, but fell far back when Daniel Juncadella got into trouble with the drive shaft. Mercedes has now given text and explanations about the problems.

Verstappen had built a big lead this morning compared to the hunting Mercedes-AMG GT3 #80 of Maro Engel, among others. It didn't seem like they were going to give up this lead, and they seemed to be able to turn the champagne cold. When Verstappen handed over the wheel to Juncadella, fate struck. He was struggling with problems on the Nordschleife, saw his lead disappear and the pitbox was pushed in.

Where did it go wrong?

Stefan Wendl, the manager of Mercedes-AMG, explained to the organization what is going on: "Immediately after the pit stop we got an ABS alarm. As a result, we initially thought we had an electrical defect. We tried to reset that, and Dani indicated that he actually got along with it just fine. But after that, extra sounds and vibrations were added, so that after two laps he had to slowly drive back to the pits."

What was going on? What was going on?

Once arrived in the pits, it turned out that there was a big problem: "Here it turned out that we have damage to the drive shaft, which unfortunately also caused the necessary follow-up damage to the other surrounding parts of the rear axle. So a longer repair is needed to get the car back on the road."

Are they still going on the job?

The question now is whether the book is permanently closed. Wendl also explains this: "We've spoken to Max, we've spoken to the other drivers and of course everyone is hugely disappointed. Especially since they fought with the #80 for so long. We have decided that we will repair the car, so that we can go outside again in the closing stages of the race to show it to the fans."

[Wouter]

Dani Juncadella.



Jules Gounon.

[venkyhere]

Compared to Lemans 24h where there are lot of straight sections to get past slower cars, Nordschleife in a completely different level.

Agree. w.r.t LeMans, Nordschleife is :
- narrower
- no run off (except the short GP section)
- severe elevation changes in short spans
- no street lighting (except the sections passing the pitlane)