Max Verstappen’s “weekend off” looked a lot like business as usual: win something, then set his sights higher.
The Red Bull driver dropped into the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie and promptly bossed a four-hour race on the Nordschleife, sharing a Ferrari 296 GT3 with Chris Lulham in their Pro-class debut. Starting third, Verstappen sent a late-brake special into Turn 1, cleared both cars ahead, and never gave the lead back. By the two-hour mark he’d built a near-minute cushion; Lulham brought the #31 home with daylight to spare.
“It was great,” Verstappen said afterward. “The first two stints went really well. The car performs well on a dry track — I already knew that from qualifying — we didn’t make any big mistakes, and to win here on our first attempt is obviously fantastic.”
For most F1 drivers, a rare blank slot on the calendar is a chance to hide the helmet. Verstappen’s never really been wired that way. If he’s not buried in sim racing, he’s hunting lap time in something with a roll cage and slicks. And at the Nürburgring, commitment still counts for more than badges. The Pro class may be a new playground for him, but the instincts are not: lap after lap on the Nordschleife, hit your marks, manage the traffic, don’t get greedy at Pflanzgarten.
The win, though, wasn’t the headline he wanted to write. Verstappen’s doing this with a clear target in mind: the Nürburgring 24 Hours. He’s made no secret that he wants to graduate to the big one — whether it’s as soon as next year or a little further out.
“Of course, I would love to compete in the 24-hour race, whether that happens next year or later, but we still need more experience for that,” he said. “That’s a given, so hopefully we can compete in more races next year.”
Ambition balanced with respect — the right tone for a place that punishes bravado. The 24H at the ’Ring throws everything at you: changing weather, night traffic, mixed classes, the sheer mental load of the Nordschleife in the dark. Even if you’re Max Verstappen, you build up to it properly.
There’s also the small matter of F1. Verstappen’s 2025 campaign remains his day job, with Red Bull still the benchmark most weekends and the margins increasingly tight at the front. And just over the horizon, the 2026 reset looms: new chassis and power unit regulations, and Red Bull stepping fully into the engine game with its Ford-linked project. However that shakes out, it’s a meaty workload for a driver who already hates standing still.
Still, it’s not hard to see why this foray feels timely. The more real-world endurance mileage Verstappen banks now, the more natural an eventual 24-hour debut becomes. He and Lulham — calm, tidy, relentlessly quick — looked like a pairing that belonged in Pro from lap one. The NLS paddock noticed. So did the rest of us.
The next question isn’t if Verstappen returns to the Nordschleife this year, but when. That mountain tends to keep the ones who love it. And Verstappen, clearly, does.
