Max Verstappen falls back to reality this weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix just a week after the Formula 1 world champion’s heroics at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
The 28-year-old shared a Mercedes with Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer for the famous Nordschleife event as part of his growing GT3 commitments.
It didn’t end in triumph though, as the #3 AMG agonisingly suffered a driveshaft failure with approximately three hours remaining, forcing it to pit from a dominant lead.
But there is no doubt that Verstappen still has the hunger for more sportscar events, having now completed a handful of races at the Nurburgring, yet he can only do this around his F1 duties.
So, how will Verstappen shift back to reality in Montreal as he searches for that first podium of the 2026 F1 season?
Verstappen’s weekend at the Nurburgring
Verstappen hasn’t enjoyed the start to F1’s new regulations that he would have hoped for, as the Red Bull driver sits seventh in the standings and is already 74 points off championship leader Kimi Antonelli after four rounds.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Brett Farmer / LAT Images via Getty Images
It comes as Red Bull has produced an RB22 that suffers from a severe lack of balance with problems maintaining tyre grip, leading to it squabbling in the midfield for much of 2026. This has led to a very frustrated Verstappen, who even claimed to have “life decisions” to make following Japan at the end of March, where he recovered from a Q2 exit to finish eighth.
What doesn’t help is Verstappen’s strong dislike towards the more electrical ruleset. So, it’s no surprise that without a championship to fight for, having already taken four of them, the Dutchman is looking at contesting more and more endurance events as he has no point left to prove in F1.
This is a style of racing he loves despite the highly contentious Balance of Performance, and it was clear from the get-go that the Nurburgring weekend was a breath of fresh air for the Dutchman. He was only there for the fun of it, conducting very minimal media sessions and embracing the love that he received from a record 352,000 crowd.
“The first few practices, I looked at Max going out of the pitlane and I looked at the grandstand on a Thursday afternoon,” said Gounon at the start of the weekend. “Normally, first few practices, there are a lot of people because it’s a big race, but not full. It was full there. It’s just something special and I think this race has always been special. But with Max, it’s extra.”
Quite frankly, it didn’t matter how he performed, because there were no questions about his car or championship standing, the crowd loved him being there and so did fellow drivers – who didn’t necessarily see him as a rival, but rather revelled in the opportunity to race against a world champion.
“He’s definitely someone that I’m looking up to and someone that I can learn from a lot,” said Abt Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler. “He’s having a massive passion, like a lot of the drivers here, and I think that’s why we can really identify ourselves with him.”
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, Lucas Auer
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The pressure was therefore off, unlike in a grand prix weekend, and he was immediately on the pace with the third-quickest lap in practice before helping the team to qualify fourth. He then started his stint 60 minutes into the race, where the Dutchman put on an absolute masterclass having joined the track in 10th, net third, before climbing up to first within two hours and handing Gounon a lead of more than 20 seconds.
“Initially I was a bit stuck in traffic,” said Verstappen. “Do it was a bit difficult to clear the cars. But once I cleared a few of them and then the weather kicked in with a few laps of slippery conditions, that’s I think where we made a difference.
“And then the car was good. Trying to stay out of trouble, but at the same time you have to push and you have to try and be on the limit, which is always, I think, a difficult compromise to find, but it worked out fine.”
It was nice to see Verstappen relishing the opportunity to showcase his generational talent, which he hasn’t necessarily been able to do in F1 2026, as his top performances continued into the night for stint two. He jumped aboard his Mercedes in second, six seconds behind Maro Engellin the sister AMG, before quickly cutting that gap, overtaking the DTM star and subsequently building a 20s advantage.
That was of course helped by Mercedes team orders after the two banged wheels around 3am local, but both drivers were still beaming after the fight. “It was great fun,” said Engel. “I had a smile under the helmet, it was really fun racing with him, we were pushing flat out and night time at the Nordschleife is always special.”
One gets the feeling that this wouldn’t have been the reaction had the fight occurred in F1, where there is obviously a lot more at stake with pressure levels on an entirely different scale. But in Germany, the drivers just wanted to race, particularly Verstappen who certainly wasn’t afraid to get scrappy during the 24 hours, and it was all going so well with the #3 holding a very healthy advantage heading into the final stages.
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, Lucas Auer
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“So far we couldn’t wish for it to go any better, but still a few hours to go so we just need to really stay focused and then we’ll see where we end up,” said Verstappen. Then, when asked about what he’s been enjoying over the weekend, he responded: “In general, just the competition. The endurance style racing where you share with team-mates. The track is super challenging, so just the whole combo.”
Of course victory wasn’t meant to be, the driveshaft failure giving victory to Engel and co in the sister car, but that still didn’t change the overarching feelings that Verstappen held upon leaving the Green Hell.
“Very unfortunate and frustrating ending, but these things can happen,” he said on social media. “I still really enjoyed the experience together with Jules, Luggi and Dani. Thanks to the team and everyone around the track for your support.”
The Dutchman also confirmed that he is interested in returning should his schedule allow, so one gets the feeling that the weekend is exactly what he needed to just get back to enjoying the basics and not worry about the end result.
Will he now hold a different mindset for F1?
Nevertheless, despite everything mentioned, it’s perhaps an exaggeration to claim that he’s now desperate to leave F1 for endurance competition, especially as Verstappen confirmed that he’d still rather take a fifth world title over Le Mans victory at a recent Viaplay event.
“I also feel like I can still win Le Mans when I’m a little older,” he claimed. There is no doubt that he’ll faultlessly shift his focus to what’s truly important for his career right now and that is F1, beginning with Montreal. It’s likely that he’ll get a hero’s welcome, especially when there’s a growing interest amongst F1 drivers to try other forms of racing. But then, the harsh reality of the 2026 regulations, plus not being in contention for the win, will hit Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images
He will also no doubt be quizzed for the first time on F1 confirming its 2027 formula, which will shift towards a 60-40 split of engine to electric power, so let the Norschleife fever continue for another day or two before Friday hits and everybody has their head down on the track action.
But Red Bull should still have reason to be positive as it was vastly improved in Miami, closing the gap to Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari, by qualifying second via Verstappen behind Antonelli.
Although he eventually finished fifth following a spin on lap one, while team-mate Isack Hadjar crashed out, the Austrian outfit was in the mix and that’s all it can hope for right now. “We’re getting there, we’re not the same yet,” said Verstappen with team boss Laurent Mekies confirming the same.
“There is a definitive step forward,” he said. “We left Japan 1.2 seconds away from pole, China one second away from pole. The competition was not going to wait for us with their updates, so everyone has updated the car [for Miami].
“But certainly we knew that on top of the development race, we had to solve some of our issues. And we knew there was lap time in it.”
A weekend scrapping for the podium will mark another positive step for Red Bull and Verstappen, who is yet to announce when he will next contest an endurance event. No doubt that’ll be soon but, for now, it’s back to the day job…
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– The Autosport.com Team
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