Max Verstappen set for Nordschleife return as endurance itch grows
Max Verstappen is heading back to the Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend, the next marker in a side-project that’s been quietly gathering momentum: endurance racing.
The reigning Formula 1 World Champion and Red Bull talisman has made no secret of his curiosity about long-distance racing, and a run on the world’s most intimidating ribbon of tarmac is a suitably serious step. It’s the kind of place that strips away the gloss — 20-odd kilometers of blind crests, bumps and commitment — and gives you nothing for free. Verstappen choosing to spend a rare weekend there says plenty about where his head is at.
Details are tight for now — car, category, program structure — but the intent is clear. This isn’t a casual show lap. The Nordschleife is where racing drivers go to test themselves in the raw, often as a prelude to bigger endurance adventures. Think of it as a proving ground, and a loud hint about the Dutchman’s eventual bucket list.
For Red Bull, it’s also very on-brand. The Eifel forest, a snarling race car, a championship leader who only ever wants more lap time — the marketing writes itself. But make no mistake: this is driver-led. Verstappen’s obsession with the craft is well known inside the paddock. He spends free time on sims running endurance stints and talks set-up like an engineer. If the stopwatch is involved, he’s interested.
It lands amid a 2025 F1 campaign where Verstappen continues to front Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT’s title charge. The calendar is unforgiving and the margins even more so, but the best in the business have always found ways to sharpen the blade without blunting their season. Fernando Alonso did it with sports cars. Nico Hülkenberg stole a Le Mans win mid-F1 career. The overlap is real: car management, traffic, discipline, living on the limit for hours. You don’t lose your single-lap edge by doing this stuff — often, you gain another gear.
There’s also the symbolism. The Nordschleife doesn’t hand out easy headlines. Anyone can say they fancy an endurance future; fewer actually go and feel what 300-kph over a blind crest in the trees does to your focus. Verstappen is choosing the hard yards. That tracks.
From a fan perspective, it’s a gift. The Nordschleife remains bucket-list motorsport, a place that compresses history and jeopardy into one long, flowing test. Seeing an active F1 benchmark go to work there will draw eyes from well beyond the usual endurance circles.
And it raises practical questions for the months ahead. How far does this go in 2025? Does it build toward a marquee 24-hour program down the line, when the F1 schedule allows? Red Bull’s ecosystem is deep enough to make almost anything possible, and Verstappen’s clout means the right machinery appears when he asks. But the balance with a title fight is delicate, and nobody inside Milton Keynes will let the focus wander. If this weekend is happening, it’s because it fits the plan.
For now, it’s simple: Verstappen intends to tackle the Green Hell again, and that alone is news. The sport’s dominant force taking his speed to a venue that frightens even veterans — that’s worth circling on the motorsport calendar.
We’ll bring confirmed car, program details, and timing as they land. More to follow.
