Max Verstappen will arrive at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as the sport’s form driver, with three wins from his last four.
You read that right. He might’ve claimed only the last two grands prix, but in between races he’s been competing at the world’s most ferocious circuit — and he’s been winning.
Could victory at the Nürburgring Nordschleife be the perfect lead-in to a potentially significant weekend for his Formula 1 title hopes?
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NO GRAND PRIX, NO PROBLEM FOR WIN-HUNGRY VERSTAPPEN
There was no grand prix at the weekend, but that wasn’t enough to prevent Max Verstappen from winning a race.
The reigning Formula 1 world champion emerged from the latest round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) with an overall victory driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 with Emil Frey Racing co-driver Chris Lulham.
The four-hour endurance race takes place on the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife, the 20.832-kilometre circuit better known as the Green Hell.
Verstappen started from third on the grid but immediately took the lead, passing both front-row starters at the first turn and controlling the race with co-driver Chris Lulham.
The Dutchman had amassed an advantage of more than a minute when he handed over to Lulham after 14 laps around two hours in. His British teammate cruised to the finish with a reduced but comfortable winning margin of 24 seconds.
“It was super,” Verstappen said, per The Race.
“The car performed superbly again in the dry during the first stints, which I already knew from qualifying.
“A bit of bad luck there [in qualifying] of course, but in the race, with the traffic, everything worked out.
“I don’t think I made any major mistakes during the first two stints. Winning here for the first time is super.“
It was Verstappen debut race in the top GT3 class, having competed in a four-hour race in GT4 machinery earlier this month — in the weekend between victories at the Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix — to earn the necessary competition licence.
While he stunned with an assured victory on his GT3 debut, a strong performance had been in the offing since a test day in May, when he broke the track record for an NLS-spec GT3 car.
His speed put some veteran NLS drivers off-side at the time, including GT champion Maro Engel, who suggested the Dutchman had benefited from running a car that would have been illegal on a race weekend — something Verstappen and his team both denied.
Verstappen has signalled he intends to enter more races at the Nordschleife with an eye to competing in the famous Nürburgring 24 Hours, which was formerly part of the series but now a round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, following the Bathurst 12 Hour.
“Of course I would like to do the 24-hour race,” he said.
“Whether that happens next year [we’ll see]. But anyway, we still need more experience. That’s the case. Hopefully next year we’ll do more NLS races.”
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ALONSO OUTLINES RETIREMENT PLANS — AND WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO SIGN A NEW DEAL
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso is contemplating extending his career beyond the end of his current contract ending in 2026.
It’s 20 years since 44-year-old Alonso won the first of his two Formula 1 world titles, and it’s been 12 years since his last race victory at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
But the evergreen Spaniard returned to Formula 1 in 2021 after a two-year hiatus to add to those statistics, and his mission could now see him race past his mid-40s.
In a revealing interview given to the Aston Martin website, Alonso admitted that he was contemplating retirement but that he would make his decision based on next year’s results.
“I have thought about it,” he said. “But I will leave the decision for next year, and also how the team is in that moment and what they need from me.
“I’m open to helping the team as much as I can. It’s not about me now. I don’t need to keep racing. I’m just here to help Aston Martin become world champions, whether that’s with me behind the wheel or without me behind the wheel. That’s the main purpose of this second chapter of my career.
“If things go well, I think it’s a very good moment to stop, because I’ve been chasing a competitive car and a competitive racing for many, many years, and if I have that I think it’s a very good way to close my career.”
Aston Martin has spent big on preparing itself for next year’s regulation changes, when it will become Honda’s de facto works team.
It’s recently opened a state-of-the art factory, including a brand-new wind tunnel, and has been aggressively poaching top talent from rival teams, the most notable of whom is legendary designer Adrian Newey, who most recently led the design team behind all Red Bull Racing’s championship-winning cars.
Alonso gives the team credibility inside the cockpit and would be expected to lead Aston Martin to wins or in a potential title tilt if the car stacks up, just as he added eight podiums to his tally during the team’s jump up the grid in 2023.
If the team isn’t competitive, however, Alonso appears to be leaving the door open to signing a new deal.
“Let’s say that if we are competitive, there is more chance that I stop,” he said. “If we are not competitive, it will be very hard to give up without trying again.”
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‘THEY MADE ME CRY’: ROMAIN GROSJEAN GETS FINAL F1 LAPS
Romain Grosjean has made his return to the Formula 1 cockpit for the first time since his grand prix career ended in a fireball crash in 2020.
Grosjean’s Formula 1 career ended when he crashed on the opening lap of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix in a 67g impact that almost cost him his life.
The Frenchman lost control of his Haas car after making contact with Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri and speared into the barriers at 192 kilometres per hour.
The impact split his car into two, and the cockpit became wedged between sections of the barrier, where it burst into flames.
The halo saved Grosjean’s life on impact, giving him a chance to escape from the fiery wreckage. It took his 28 seconds to haul himself around the debris and out of the car, but his safety suit and helmet limited his injuries to second-degree burns to his hands.
He was unable to compete in the final two rounds of the season, and having already lost his seat for the following year, the crash was his final moment in a Formula 1 car.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had promised Grosjean a run in one of his team’s F1 cars in 2021, but scheduling conflicts following the Frenchman’s IndyCar switch meant it never came about.
Five years later, Haas has granted Grosjean his first laps as part of a Pirelli tyre test at Italy’s Mugello circuit at the weekend.
“It was a special day,” he said, per the F1 website. “[Team owner] Gene Haas and [team principal] Ayao Komatsu — they made it happen.
“It was a wet day, but as we say with weddings, rainy wedding, happy wedding, so it was a rainy day, happy day.
“I felt a bit rusty at first, then everything came back.
“I even got to do a standing start, and guess what? My last standing start was Bahrain 2020. This time it turned out way better!
“It was fantastic. I’m very, very grateful. There are just no other words.”
The opportunity also gave Grosjean a chance to wear a helmet designed by his children that he had intended to use in his swan song 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
By the end of the day, the emotion of the moment overwhelmed the 10-time podium-getter.
“They made me cry at the end of the day!” he said. “I kept my visor down, but for my last in-lap everyone from Ferrari, Red Bull, Pirelli and of course Haas was here, clapping and giving me like an ovation.
“That’s something I was expecting in Abu Dhabi 2020, but I think it was even better today.”