‘Can happen to anyone’ – Big Max Verstappen hazard spotted ahead of Nürburgring 24

Max Verstappen’s lack of nighttime experience might not trip him up, but the four-time F1 World Champion might have to worry about another potential stumbling block.

Verstappen is taking part in his first 24-hour endurance event this weekend, with the Dutch driver racing in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in Germany, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3. His car will start the race in fourth.

Max Verstappen warned about unpredictable Nürburgring traffic

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Verstappen is one of three drivers racing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend, with former F1 racers Markus Winkelhock and Timo Glock also on the entry list.

Glock – a former racer with Jordan, Toyota, and Virgin/Marussia – is racing a McLaren 720s in the SP9 class, driving for Doerr Motorsport.

As an experienced sportscar and endurance racer, this weekend is his second attempt at the Nürburgring 24 Hour after his first attempt in 2024, and Glock is one of the best-placed drivers to understand the difficulties and challenges of switching between the approach to a Formula 1 race, as is Verstappen’s bread and butter, and that of a lengthy endurance race.

On paper, having raced at the Nordschleife in a series of four-hour races in preparation for this weekend, Verstappen’s biggest challenge is that of dealing with racing at night in the darkness, having missed the opportunity to gain some insight in this area due to the tragedy that struck the NLS5 race last month, with the death of Juha Miettinen ending the event early.

Verstappen got the chance to drive the Nordschleife in the dark on Thursday night during Qualifying 2, in what were treacherous conditions as rain and hail lashed the circuit.

His caution was evident, but Glock said he doesn’t believe nighttime driving will faze the Red Bull F1 driver in the slightest, due to his experience with simulated environments on the iRacing equivalents of such prestigious events such as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

“I don’t think he has any problem with that. I think he had enough laps on the simulator already, which helps a lot,” Glock told PlanetF1.com when asked about whether nighttime is the last question mark facing Verstappen.

“And, as he showed already, he jumped in the car and was straight away, and quick. He reads the traffic super well.

“The battle with Christopher Haase was outstanding. Insane racing from these two, and he shows every time that he’s able to just jump in and knows what he has to do. And that’s outstanding.

“Therefore, I don’t think there is any problem for him at night.”

With Verstappen’s experience focusing on the short-form aggression of formula racing, in which 90-minute races means every second counts, the nature of endurance racing means survival plays a much bigger part over the course of 24 hours, rather than relentless aggression.

It’s in this balance of risk vs. reward that Verstappen may have to challenge himself in ways he usually doesn’t have to, but Glock has no doubt the four-time F1 World Champion will thrive.

“He knows what what to do, because he did so many 24-hour races in sim racing, and that pretty much the same these days,” he said.

“I think he knows where he needs to back out a bit, where he doesn’t need to take the risk. I don’t think there is a problem.”

However, where Verstappen could be tripped up is in taking a presumptive attitude towards every driver he shares the track with this weekend.

While in F1, the driver talent standard is very close, negligible in difference in percentage terms, the gulf in talent between the forefront of the top SP9 class and the lowest hobby and gentleman racer classes means that, despite all drivers holding the required DMSB permit, not all might behave as predictably as what Verstappen is used to.

“The point is, this can happen to anyone,” Glock said.

“There are another 160 cars around us, and there are very slow cars, with very inexperienced drivers in them and maybe something he needs to think about more.

“Because, when he does the sim racing, they have more high-profile drivers, let’s say, so I think that’s something he needs to think about a bit more – that he doesn’t think the guy in front does exactly what he thinks.

“I experienced some of that already today, there are some hobby guys out there who you never know what they’re doing.

“That’s where he needs to take a bit of precaution.”

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