An overwhelming majority of Formula 1 fans believe Max Verstappen’s GT3 racing activities are beneficial for Red Bull rather than a distraction, according to a RacingNews365 poll.<\/p>\n
The survey revealed that 90.8% of respondents view the four-time world champion’s endurance racing programme as keeping him motivated and focused, with just 9.2% considering it a potential hindrance to Red Bull’s F1 progress.<\/p>\n
Verstappen has been competing in GT3 endurance racing through his team Verstappen Racing, fielding a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with support from Red Bull and partner team Winward Racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His 2026 programme centres on the N\u00fcrburgring 24 Hours in May, with preparation including the recent NLS2 event and qualifying for the N\u00fcrburgring 24 Hours in April.<\/p>\n
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has given the venture his full backing, emphasising Verstappen’s genuine passion for motorsport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“He doesn’t need to convince us, really,” Mekies explained. “It’s enough to speak for a few minutes with Max, and you see his face light up, his eyes light up when he talks about racing cars, and it doesn’t matter what type of cars.”<\/p>\n
Mekies dismissed any concerns about Verstappen’s F1 commitment despite the additional racing workload.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I have no doubts about his motivation,” the Red Bull boss stated. “His way of working with us and his commitment to improvements is the same as last season.”<\/p>\n
The Dutchman’s GT3 activities appear to provide a crucial outlet during what has been a challenging period in F1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Verstappen has been vocally critical of the 2026 regulations, and his endurance racing pursuits offer a contrast to the political nature of F1’s paddock environment.<\/p>\n
The poll results suggest fans recognise the value of keeping Verstappen engaged across multiple racing disciplines, particularly as Red Bull navigate the challenges of the new regulatory era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An overwhelming majority of Formula 1 fans believe Max Verstappen’s GT3 racing activities are beneficial for Red Bull…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,827,830,828,831,829,826,813,823,825,806,805,824,803,804,822,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-589358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1-calendar","12":"tag-f1-live","13":"tag-f1-results","14":"tag-f1-standings","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motor","20":"tag-motor-sports","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-motosport","23":"tag-motosports","24":"tag-racing","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589358","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=589358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}