Max Verstappen has continued to articulate his frustration with the 2026 Formula 1 rules as the season has gotten underway—but he says the recent confirmation that he will race in the Nurburgring 24 Hours this year isn’t necessarily a sign that he’s ready to quit his day job.
Verstappen raced at the Nordschleife for the first time last year, and made it clear that the round-the-clock event was always going to be his main target. This year, it falls in the gap between the Miami and Canadian GPs. When he was asked why he was so keen to do it, he made his feelings about the event clear.
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“Because it’s one of the best races in the world,” he said. “It’s one of the best tracks. I mean, honestly, in a GT car—for me, that’s the perfect speed around there. I think if you go anything faster, it can be a bit dangerous in places. But yeah, it’s just everything. I’ve been watching, of course, for a long time. I know a lot of my friends that have been racing in it already. They say it’s one of the best things ever.”
Verstappen at least year’s 1000-km race at the ’Ring. picture alliance – Getty Images
Verstappen downplayed the suggestion that he’s doing the race because he’s not getting what he needs from F1. “This was, of course, already planned regardless of what I’m driving this year,” he said. “Yeah, I wish I had a bit more fun at the moment, of course, here [in F1]. But at the same time, I’m also very happy that the team here, they let me do all these things.”
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The Dutchman made it clear that he’s not ready to walk away from Formula 1 just yet, despite his obvious distaste for the 2026 cars. “I don’t want to leave, really,” he said. “Like I said—I wish I had a bit more fun, for sure, but I’m also doing other stuff that is a lot of fun. I get to race the Nordschleife. I hope in the coming years I can do Spa, hopefully Le Mans. So I’m combining stuff, to find other stuff that I find really fun as well.
“But at the same time, it’s a bit conflicting. Because I don’t really enjoy driving the [F1] car, but I do enjoy working with all the people in the team and from the engine department as well,” he added. “I think I don’t need to be only a F1 driver. I can also do other things, especially [since] I’ve done this already for a while and I’ve achieved everything that I wanted to achieve. So that’s why I want to explore, also, other things. And I don’t want to do them when I’m 40 years old, so now, I think this is the perfect age to do it.”
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