Max Verstappen riles fans after Nurburgring pitlane antics: 'Pure performative cringe'

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring

Max Verstappen riles fans after Nurburgring pitlane antics: 'Pure performative cringe'

One of Max Verstappen's manoeuvres caught some flack online

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 19 April 2026 19:45

F1 champion Max Verstappen's racing antics at the Nurburgring drew the ire of a fan on social media during the NLS5 round on Sunday (April 19).

The Dutchman's Nurburgring 24h preparations ramped up this weekend, contesting the NLS4 and NLS5 rounds with Lucas Auer and his Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team.

However, the NLS4 race was cancelled following the tragic accident that saw 66-year-old Juha Miettinen lose his life in a seven-car crash.

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Qualifying and the NLS5 race went ahead as scheduled on the Sunday, with a minute-long silence held in memory of Miettinen who had raced countless laps around the Nurburgring during his racing career.

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Verstappen in the NLS5 race

Verstappen started the NLS5 race from fifth on the grid, but quickly made his way up the field where he duelled with race leader Christopher Haase, before taking the lead.

An early pit stop allowed Verstappen to build a lead of over twenty seconds but after 38 minutes into his second stint, the Dutch driver had to return to the pits, where the Mercedes-AMG was pushed into the garage due to damage to the splitter, dashing any hopes of victory.

Team-mate Auer eventually made it back into the race around 30 minutes after Verstappen pitted, but at this point any hopes of a race win were non-existent.

Prior to exiting the car, Verstappen decided to pull off an overtake as he entered the pit lane, which didn't go down with one fan on social media.

They wrote: "Max may turn out to be the GOAT but his pit entry/exit nonsense is pure performative cringe."

Another fan defended Verstappen in the replies however, and wrote: "Of course it’s performative? What a s*** entry from the Cayman giving up 2/3 seconds on pit entry is awful at any level. Max is doing what’s required to maximise his performance!"

A second defended Verstappen against the criticism, and concurred: "You can lose a ton of time at pit entry, even in sim racing, I don’t think this is performative at all. But it’s surely fun."

Max Verstappen Nürburgring Nurburgring Nordschleife