Max Verstappen hits Nurburgring turmoil as race win hopes vanish

Verstappen in the Nurburgring pits — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring

Max Verstappen hits Nurburgring turmoil as race win hopes vanish

The F1 star hit issues at the Nurburgring having led the 4hr race

By Vincent Bruins.

Sunday 19 April 2026 15:05

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Max Verstappen won't be able to win Race 2 of the ADAC 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers after hitting trouble while in contention for the lead.

The four-time F1 champion was forced to bring his Mercedes-AMG in for repairs after sustaining damage. Winward Racing, which runs Verstappen Racing's car, has provided some insight into the situation.

Starting from fifth on the grid, Verstappen quickly made his way up to third. A daring pass on Dennis Marschall’s Ferrari put him into second, and he then engaged in several duels on the straight with Christopher Haase’s Audi, reminiscent of previous battles in NLS2.

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An early pit stop allowed Verstappen to build a lead of over twenty seconds thanks to the pit regulations. However, after 38 minutes into his second stint, the Dutch driver had to return to the pits, the AMG was pushed into the garage, dashing any hopes of victory.

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Buschmann Gives His Take

"We don't know exactly what happened yet, but the splitter is damaged," explained Steve Buschmann, Director of Operations at Winward Racing, in an interview with GPFans.

"That’s why we decided to take the car into the garage before anything worse could occur. We’re now trying to repair it, and we plan to use the remainder of the race as a test session."

Verstappen's team-mate, Lucas Auer, driving the same car eventually made it back into the race for the team around 30 minutes after Verstappen pitted, but of course with any hopes of a decent result having passed.

Auer though will pick up priceless experience in the remaining two hours of the race.

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