Max Verstappen is spending his free weekend lapping the most intimidating ribbon of tarmac in Europe — not for show, but to tick a box that’s been bugging him for years.
The four-time Formula 1 world champion is at the Nürburgring to chase the DMSB Permit Nordschleife, the specific licence required to race GT3 machinery around the 20.8km Green Hell. To get there, he’s rolling up his sleeves the proper way: entering Saturday’s four-hour NLS7 race in a Porsche Cayman GT4, sharing with Team Redline sim-racing teammate Chris Lulham.
Verstappen’s long made it clear he wants more than just the odd demo run on the Nordschleife. He’s eyeing the big one — the Nürburgring 24 Hours — and the permit is the gateway. With the circuit’s current grading limiting competition to GT3 as the top class, this is the ladder you climb if you’re serious about racing there for real, not just for the Instagram.
“Racing is not just my profession, but also my hobby,” Verstappen said on his official site. “This weekend I am at the Nordschleife with the goal to qualify for the mandatory race permit needed to race here in a GT3 car, which I would love. The Nordschleife is at the top of my list of tracks I want to race on, as it’s extremely challenging and demanding, with its enormous length and tight historic layout. I can’t wait!”
He’s not exactly turning up blind. Earlier this year, Verstappen quietly sampled a Ferrari 296 GT3 with Emil Frey Racing under the alias “Franz Hermann” and, by all accounts in the paddock, lapped at an unofficial record pace for a GT3 car. The speed was impressive; the intent was clearer. He wasn’t there to set headlines, he said at the time, but to learn the track and feel out the programme.
“I’ve done thousands of laps around there,” he added of his simulator habit. “So for me, when I got there in real life, it was more knowing the grip level, the new tarmac in places, and then the grip level of the car… The most important thing is that you know exactly where you’re going, and that I knew already.”
A few things jump out about Verstappen doing this now. First, it’s not a branding exercise. Yes, a Red Bull-liveried Porsche in the pit lane makes for easy photos, but entering an NLS round in GT4 is the old-school route. It’s paperwork through pace, consistency and traffic management — the unglamorous stuff that actually earns you the permit.
Second, the timing matters. With an F1 calendar that barely lets drivers breathe, carving out a window to run a four-hour race — and the test laps and briefings that come with it — is the clearest sign yet that the 24-hour target isn’t just a wish. It’s in the plan.
And third, this is Verstappen in his element. When he says racing is his hobby, he means it. He’s always been the driver who’ll chase a feel, chase a lap, chase something that makes the hair on his neck stand up. The Nordschleife offers all of that in industrial quantities. It also offers consequences, which is why the permit exists and why teams pay attention to who’s serious enough to earn it.
There will be the usual murmurs about risk — they always surface when a front-line F1 driver goes looking for more mileage in something with a roof and doors. But the modern approach to the Ring is brutally professional, and Verstappen’s route into it is the sensible one. A GT4 Cayman, shared with someone he trusts from the sim world, in a structured series that exists to prepare drivers for the 24. No shortcuts. No nonsense.
If he completes the steps and pockets the permit, the next phase is obvious. GT3 outings at the Ring become possible, and the springboard to the 24 Hours opens up. Whether that’s with a brand aligned to his F1 life or through a proven GT3 programme like the one he quietly sampled earlier this year is a conversation for later.
For now, it’s Verstappen plus the Nordschleife. No title permutations, no parc fermé drama — just a world champion taking on the world’s wildest racetrack the right way. You get the feeling he wouldn’t have it any other way.
