Max Verstappen Nurburgring dream ‘banned’ by Helmut Marko before disqualification drama

Outside of his GT3 endeavours, Max Verstappen had long since held an interest in driving the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

But, Verstappen’s plan to demo run a Red Bull F1 car around the ‘Green Hell’ was “banned” by Helmut Marko, who himself revealed this. Verstappen made his racing return to the venue this weekend, but went from the ecstasy of victory, to the agony of a post-race disqualification.

Max Verstappen Nurburgring plan blocked by Helmut Marko

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Verstappen, alongside Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon, manned the Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 machines, in what was the first race of the 2026 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie [NLS] season.

The trio had claimed a commanding victory around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, Verstappen pumping in a crucial first and final stint. The margin of victory at the time was over a minute.

But, the news broke post-race that Verstappen and Co. had been disqualified. There is a strict limit in place of six sets of tyres for the race. Verstappen’s team had used seven due to an error which traced back to qualifying.

Ahead of the race, Marko, Red Bull’s former Formula 1 senior advisor and driver programme boss, revealed that years back, Verstappen had plans to lap the fearsome Nordschleife in a Red Bull F1 car.

That did not sit comfortably with Marko.

“Max was raving to me about the Nordschleife years ago,” Marko told F1-Insider.com. “Back then, he wanted to do a demonstration run in a Formula 1 Red Bull. But that set off all my alarm bells.”

To Marko’s mind, Verstappen had an ulterior motive.

“Demonstration run, my foot!” Marko declared. “Max had seen that crazy video of Timo Bernhard breaking the lap record in a Le Mans Porsche. I reckon he wanted to top that with the Red Bull.

“It was too dangerous for me. That’s why I put a stop to it and banned it.”

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Verstappen found his way onto this iconic track in GT3 machinery. While his latest NLS outing brought a frustrating outcome, it is all part of the bigger picture, as Verstappen continues his preparations for his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut in May.

With a blank F1 schedule for April now, Verstappen is looking into contesting the Nurburgring 24 Hours qualifying races to take place during that month.

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