{"id":564468,"date":"2026-03-26T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564468\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:30:10","slug":"max-verstappen-completes-surprise-red-bull-test-ahead-of-f1-japanese-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564468\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen completes surprise Red Bull test ahead of F1 Japanese GP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/tag\/verstappen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Verstappen<\/a> is keeping himself busy ahead of the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/series\/single-seater\/formula-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> Japanese Grand Prix, completing a Red Bull test in a Nissan GT500 at Fuji.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh off the back of his NLS2 exploits at the N\u00fcrburgring Nordschleife, the four-time F1 Champion jumped back into GT-spec machinery at the Fuji International Speedway on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p>The Dutchman landed in Japan ahead of the Grand Prix weekend at the Suzuka International Circuit, but took a Red Bull-liveried detour driving a Z GT500 during day two of the manufacturer\u2019s test. <\/p>\n<p>Verstappen\u2019s driving duties, at a wet Fuji track, are understood to be part of a promotional shoot that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/teams\/red-bull-racing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Milton-Keynes-based outfit<\/a> had planned for the Japanese GP weekend. <\/p>\n<p>The test was part of the Super GT series \u2013 a competition that Red Bull has participated in, in the past, sponsoring the Mugen-Honda outfit. <\/p>\n<p>For Verstappen, the GT500 was the second Super GT he has tested, previously driving the NSX-GT during the Honda Thanks Day in 2022 at Motegi.<\/p>\n<p>While this particular test might have been a partner obligation of sorts, the 28-year-old has made a concerted effort to take part in different driving disciplines other than F1. <\/p>\n<p>Verstappen\u2019s NLS2 stint, behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG, saw him win the event out right only to be disqualified later for a technical tyre infringement.<\/p>\n<p>Before that, the Red Bull driver won the 2025 NLS9 race driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/03\/23\/max-verstappen-announces-major-rebrand-ahead-of-f1-japanese-gp\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Verstappen Sim Racing<\/a> team-mate Chris Lulham.  <\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to the Japanese GP, this weekend, Verstappen sits eighth in the Drivers\u2019 standings with Red Bull currently sixth in the Constructors\u2019 championship.  <\/p>\n<p>Retiring from the Chinese GP, the four-time world champion will be aiming for better luck in Suzuka, a race he comfortably won in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>READ MORE \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/03\/25\/f1-insider-makes-bold-max-verstappen-mercedes-prediction\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 insider makes bold Max Verstappen Mercedes prediction<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen is keeping himself busy ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, completing a Red&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,202875,825,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-564468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-japanesegp","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}