Max Verstappen Nurburgring bid halted as qualifying red flagged after huge crash

NLS4 at Nurburgring

Max Verstappen Nurburgring bid halted as qualifying red flagged after huge crash

Anders Buchardt is okay after a huge crash at the Nurburgring

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 18 April 2026 09:29 Updated: 23:43

Qualifying for the first race of the ADAC 24h Qualifiers barely got underway for Max Verstappen's team, when the session was suddenly halted after a heavy crash involving Anders Buchardt on the Nordschleife section of the Nurburgring.

The sunny morning set the stage for an exciting start, with 127 cars entered and teams eager to hit the track.

The session for Race 1 (or NLS4) started at 08:30 local time (07:30 UK), and was scheduled to last for 90 minutes. However, after only about 20 minutes, red flags were waved so that officials could repair the damaged safety barriers.

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Saturday's qualifying was stopped after an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo from Walkenhorst Motorsport crashed with Buchardt’s No.39 vehicle striking the wall near Adenauer Forst.

Buchardt unharmed after Nurburgring crash

Jorg Breuer from Walkenhorst Motorsport later informed GPFans via the board radio that the Norwegian driver is communicating and appears to be fine.

At the time the session was halted, David Jahn’s Gamota Racing BMW led the timing charts with an 8:15.135 lap.

Meanwhile, Lucas Auer - teammate to Max Verstappen at Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing - had not yet managed to set a lap time.

Qualifying was restarted a 09:40 local time and has been extended until 10:50.

Max Verstappen Nürburgring Nurburgring Nordschleife 24 Hours of Nurburgring