{"id":616540,"date":"2026-04-20T13:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/616540\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:05:09","slug":"nordschleife-tragedy-casts-spotlight-on-verstappen-hobby-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/616540\/","title":{"rendered":"Nordschleife tragedy casts spotlight on Verstappen hobby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"date\">APRIL 20, 2026<\/p>\n<p>A fatal crash at the Nurburgring has cast a harsh spotlight on the risks of endurance racing &#8211; just as Max Verstappen continues to spend time at the track during the Formula 1 break.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Max+Verstappen%2C+Japanese+GP+2026&amp;photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Red+Bull&amp;photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpjap26%2Fsun%2Fred%2Fverstappen24-lg.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/verstappen24-rd.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Max Verstappen, Japanese GP 2026<br \/>\u00a9 Red Bull<\/p>\n<p>Finnish driver Juha Miettinen, 66, died after a multi-car incident during an NLS race at the Nordschleife, reportedly triggered by fluid on the track at the high-speed Klostertal section.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen&#8217;s teammate Lucas Auer was circulating in their Red Bull-livered Mercedes AMG at the time.<\/p>\n<p>There was a very big crash, driver Misha Charoudin told Viaplay.<\/p>\n<p>Someone left fluid behind and I think six or seven cars crashed into each other.You approach that stretch at 220 kilometres-per-hour and if you can&#8217;t brake&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The FIA reacted with a statement of condolence.<\/p>\n<p>Our thoughts are with his family and friends and everyone involved in the event.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen, who was in the pits at the time of the incident, also responded.<\/p>\n<p>Shocked by what happened today. Motorsport is something we all love, but in times like this it is a reminder of how dangerous it can be, he wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>The incident inevitably raises questions about Red Bull allowing its star driver to pursue such high-risk activities away from Formula 1.<\/p>\n<p>However, GPDA chairman Alexander Wurz says Verstappen is far from alone in wanting to explore endurance racing.<\/p>\n<p>Max isn&#8217;t alone in his newfound passion for the Nurburgring and endurance racing &#8211; Alonso has already set an example, he told Speed Week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Le Mans is interesting and desirable for everyone. I think it&#8217;s great that he has the opportunity to race endurance races in GT.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect Max isn&#8217;t alone in this. Several of his colleagues probably want the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, George Russell admitted he understands the appeal &#8211; even as speculation continues about Verstappen&#8217;s long-term F1 future.<\/p>\n<p>I can understand why driving on the Nordschleife puts a huge smile on his face, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve done hundreds of laps in the simulator and I&#8217;d love to have the chance to race there someday, but my goal now is to be Formula 1 world champion.<\/p>\n<p>If I had four titles already, I&#8217;d probably be doing the same thing. He&#8217;s at a different stage of his career. I think you&#8217;d understand if he left and you&#8217;d understand if he stayed.<\/p>\n<p>(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APRIL 20, 2026 A fatal crash at the Nurburgring has cast a harsh spotlight on the risks of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[2226,3769,3798,3825,3812,3756,3757,3806,3846,1205,3833,3778,3782,49,48,581,95,3788,3820,3811,578,3753,3818,3763,3018,930,3754,576,580,577,3781,3790,3808,3758,3759,3751,3822,3801,3774,3823,3840,3827,3847,3800,3844,3750,3752,3772,2454,3789,3775,3765,3784,3768,3814,3780,3761,3794,3850,3803,3792,932,3795,3777,3843,3845,3824,3773,590,3760,3834,3837,3810,3836,3797,2338,3842,2475,3815,3785,3019,3764,3802,3786,3805,3828,582,3755,1882,3829,3771,3793,3807,3783,3841,3799,3014,3762,3796,3766,3779,3835,3838,3849,3839,82,3831,3832,3816,3776,3830,926,3787,3848,3819,3826,3809,3767,3770,3791,1196,3817,3813,3821,3804],"class_list":["post-616540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}