Max Verstappen stunned by Mercedes issue at Nurburgring: "That was very strange"

Max Verstappen was dumbfounded over what caused the damage that forced him to withdraw from his battle for victory at the Nurburgring Nordschleife on Sunday.

Verstappen started from P5 and quickly clawed his way up to third place. Soon after, he found himself locked in a fight for the lead with Christopher Haase, the same rival he had duelled during the NLS2 race.

Unfortunately, his bid for a win was cut short about forty minutes into his second stint when he entered the pit lane with noticeable damage.

Verstappen's Mercedes was stuck in the garage for 28 minutes and 15 seconds before taking to the track again with the four-time F1 champion's team-mate Lucas Auer.

READ MORE: Verstappen leaves rivals stunned after creating Nurburgring speed hack

Verstappen on Mercedes: 'Bizarre damage'

Speaking to Viaplay, Verstappen explained: “In the second lap of my second stint, I suddenly felt severe vibrations. At the same time, I heard the splitter clattering harshly, and I immediately realised it had broken off. It was very strange.”

He added, “I didn’t make contact with anyone, so I’m at a loss as to how this happened. We’ll have to find out exactly where things went wrong. There are other Mercedes cars out there performing well, so hopefully we can work through this issue.”

Mercedes finish way down field

While Auer got running again, the Austrian and Verstappen's car lost far too much time to make their way significantly back up the field, eventually placing 39th in a race won by Ben Green, Christopher Haase, and Alexander Sims in an Audi from Scherer Sport PHX.

READ MORE: F1 World Champions: The full list from Farina to new king Lando Norris

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Martin Brundle's son makes late entry to take on Max Verstappen in Nurburgring 24 Hours race

• Yesterday 21:55

Nurburgring 24 Hours: Qualifying explained as Max Verstappen competes in famous race

• Yesterday 20:25

Max Verstappen Nurburgring absence confirmed as F1 champion to miss fan event due to safety concerns

• Yesterday 19:48

Nurburgring 24 Hours Rules: What Max Verstappen really needs to know ahead of iconic race

• Yesterday 16:01

Nurburgring 24 Hours: Latest weather forecast from Germany as Max Verstappen tackles iconic race

• Yesterday 15:12

Nurburgring 24 Hours entry list: Max Verstappen heads huge field for ‘Green Hell’ this weekend

• Yesterday 10:55