Max Verstappen teammate reveals awkward grid moment at Nurburgring
Max Verstappen is in his 10th full season with Red Bull Racing in 2026
Daniel Juncadella, one of Max Verstappen’s Mercedes GT3 teammates, has revealed an awkward moment ahead of the start of Saturday’s race at the Nurburgring.
After participating in a number of races at the Nordschleife last year, Verstappen announced earlier this month that he will enter the Nurburgring 24 hours in May.
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The four-time F1 world champion returned to the German circuit on Saturday to take part in an NLS race behind the wheel of a Red Bull-branded Mercedes-AMG GT3 car.
Verstappen, along with teammates Juncadella and Jules Gounon, dominated the day’s action, claiming pole position by 1.9 seconds and winning the race by almost a minute.
However, the trio were disqualified hours after the race due to a tyre infringement.
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It emerged that the winning car had used a total of seven sets of tyres over the course of qualifying and the race combined, one more than the permitted maximum of six.
Verstappen’s presence at the Nurburgring attracted huge attention, with Saturday’s race brought forward by seven days to allow the F1 star to compete on a free weekend between the Chinese and Japanese grands prix.
And Juncadella, a simulator driver for the Aston Martin F1 team, has revealed an awkward moment before the start of the race at the Nurburgring.
With a large crowd gathering around the Mercedes on the grid, Juncadella quipped that he could hear onlookers sighing when he, not Verstappen, climbed out of the car.
In a post to social media, he wrote: “Don’t worry guys, everyone around the car also expected it was Max jumping out of the car.
“When they saw it was me there was a disappointing ‘ohhhh’ flying around.”
His comment was accompanied by a laughing emoji and a thumbs up.
Juncadella, 34, spent a single season as Aston Martin’s reserve driver in 2014 when the Silverstone-based team was still competing under the banner of Force India.
He appeared in a total of three FP1 sessions in Britain, Italy and Brazil, where he crashed out of the session.
It proved to be Juncadella’s last appearance on an official F1 race weekend with the Spaniard going on to compete in DTM, GT World Challenge, IMSA and the World Endurance Championship.
Juncadella’s final F1 practice appearance at Interlagos in 2014 coincided with Verstappen’s third FP1 outing with Toro Rosso ahead of his debut season in 2015.
Verstappen’s Brazil 2014 appearance is best remembered for a breathtaking save at the downhill left hander known as Mergulho.
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