Ralf Schumacher calls Verstappen’s Nürburgring red tape “embarrassing” after Cayman class win
Max Verstappen spent his rare free Saturday being, well, a rookie. The four-time Formula 1 World Champion turned up at the Nürburgring Nordschleife not in a snarling GT3 weapon, but in a detuned Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 with roughly 300 bhp, ticking off the laps he needs for the track’s notoriously strict licence. He still topped his class by miles. And he still left some people wondering why the world’s most in-form driver had to start at the back of the queue.
“Embarrassing,” was Ralf Schumacher’s verdict on the decision not to make an exception for Verstappen. “I would have given it to him straight away, of course,” he told Motorsport-Total. “The best driver in the world will manage it if the others can do it… Instead of many people being happy that Max is bringing this attention back to the Nordschleife, people are arguing about him getting his permit before he even drives. That’s embarrassing.”
The rules are the rules at the Green Hell. To race in the big stuff — the Nürburgring 24 Hours, GT3 machinery, the works — drivers need the DMSB Permit Nordschleife. Verstappen arrived to gather his “Permit A,” which requires completing a set of race laps in specified categories. He secured his “Permit B” on Friday in practice, then rolled into Saturday’s Nürburgring Endurance Series round with one job: log 14 clean race laps.
Because he’s a novice at the Nordschleife in competition terms, Verstappen couldn’t jump straight into the Ferrari 296 GT3 he’s previously sampled at the circuit — he famously tested there earlier this year under the pseudonym “Franz Harmann.” Instead he landed in the CUP3(G) class Porsche. It didn’t slow him much. He stuck it on class pole by 25 seconds, then, alongside teammate Chris Lulham, won the CUP3(G) category and placed 27th overall, all while collecting the laps he needed.
For all the paperwork, it was unmistakably Verstappen: zero fuss, clinical execution, job done.
Schumacher’s frustration is aimed at what he feels is needless box-ticking in the face of obvious talent. He says a proper briefing on the Nordschleife’s quirks and procedures should have been sufficient. But even he concedes this place isn’t like anywhere else.
“Of course, the Nordschleife is not without its dangers,” he added. “Just the run-off areas alone, the differences between the various classes, poor visibility at night… hats off to the guys.”
There’s also the wider picture. Verstappen is deep in another title fight with Red Bull Racing in 2025 and, as ever, the risk question hangs over any extracurricular outing. Schumacher, a former Grand Prix winner, understands both sides. “Forbidding him to do so would either make him lose interest in where he is now or make him sulky,” he said. He also noted the choice says plenty about Verstappen’s appetite: with a packed F1 calendar and a young family, he still carves out time to race something else, somewhere hard.
Verstappen’s been clear about the plan. He wants the big endurance races — Spa, the Nordschleife, Le Mans — and he wants them in proper machinery. He’s a regular in online enduros with Team Redline and recently spelled out his ambitions in a Ford promo, pointing toward GT3 now and Hypercar/GTP later. With Ford tying up with Red Bull Powertrains on the F1 side, the crossover is an obvious talking point.
When, not if, Verstappen finds himself on the Nürburgring 24 Hours grid in a full-blooded GT3, Schumacher reckons he’ll be immediately in the conversation. “In terms of his performance, definitely,” he said, with the usual caveats that make the N24 such a coin toss: the right team, a car that holds together, sensible weather and a tyre partner that can cope with all of it.
For now, though, Verstappen is doing it the hard way — the only way, if you show up at the ‘Ring without the right sticker on your licence. No shortcuts, no special treatment, just a Cayman dancing over kerbs and a champion collecting signatures like everyone else. It’s a curious image, sure. But it’s also very Nordschleife.
And if the sport’s sharpest operator wants to spend a weekend learning the place properly, in traffic, in the rain and spray and chaos, that’s probably a good thing for everyone. The rookies get a reminder of what great looks like. The regulars get a yardstick. The series gets headlines. Max gets his Permit A.
Whether or not there should’ve been an exception is almost beside the point. Confined to a junior-class Porsche, Verstappen still did what he always does: raise the bar, then clear it.
