The $13,000 precedent for Red Bull forcing Max Verstappen to only race in F1

Verstappen at the Nurburgring — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

The $13,000 precedent for Red Bull forcing Max Verstappen to only race in F1

Verstappen and Red Bull may have conversations over his endurance racing future

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Wednesday 22 April 2026 19:00

Formula 1 teams tend to guard their drivers closely, which makes sense when those same drivers are earning multi-million-dollar contracts each season.

It might sound obvious, but that level of investment means teams are extremely cautious about how and where their drivers race outside of F1 commitments.

Add in strict contract clauses and an already packed calendar, and it’s clear why appearances in other racing series are rare, the risk of injury or damage simply isn’t worth it for most teams.

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Red Bull and Max Verstappen's recent arrangement then, with the four-time world champion racing in some Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) events over the last year with the intention of competing in the 24hr Nurburgring in May, is unusual.

Juha Miettinen death throws racing dangers into sharp relief

Miettinen's was the first racing death at the historic track since 2013, but the circuit is notoriously treacherous – and with more than 100 cars entering most NLS races, of varying speeds and classes, the races produce dangerously fast closing speeds regularly.

The details of Saturday's crash are yet to be fully released, but it wouldn't be a surprise if some internal conversations were held at Red Bull over Verstappen's ongoing participation. GPFans has reached out to the team for comment.

The £10,000 precedent for Red Bull to persuade Verstappen to drop Nurburgring racing

It's unclear whether the team could outright block the Dutchman from the races via clauses in his contract, although Verstappen has previously acknowledged that there's a 'no dangerous sports' note in his deal.

Of course, there was a similar clause in Kimi Raikkonen's deal with Alfa Romeo...or might have been. The jetskiier, dirt-biker and general thrill-seeking Finn said at the time that he didn't even read his contract, especially not for a clause stopping him from living dangerously when off the track.

"It's worth zero, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "I told them that if they complain about anything – if they whine – then I’m not here anymore."

Far more likely than a unilateral blocking by the team or Verstappen outright defying Red Bull's wishes is a mutual agreement one way or the other between driver and team – which there is actually historic precedent for when it comes to F1 drivers and 24hr racing.

Nigel Mansell wrote in his 1995 autobiography that he'd approached his then-Lotus boss Colin Chapman about entering the 1982 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the £10,000 he'd get for driving the race providing a significant income against the £50,000 a year he was earning with the F1 team.

As he explained in the book: "The following year, for example, I wanted to earn some extra money by racing in the Le Mans 24 hours sportscar race. When I asked Colin, he immediately refused permission. I said: ‘In the contract you can’t unreasonably withhold permission and he replied: ‘I haven’t just invested £2.5 million in you this past year, just for you to get yourself wiped out at Le Mans.’

"He sat me down and explained that out of the 100 or so drivers at Le Mans every year, only 20 or so were real professionals, and the rest were club drivers or once-a-year drivers. He said that the difference in speeds between the faster cars and the cars in the lower classes was horrendous and that a lot of accidents happened because of the lesser quality drivers competing. I explained that I’d been offered £10,000 just to drive and that was a lot of money to me.

"‘I don’t really want to do it,’ I said, ‘But it’s a lot of money. I don’t get paid much. I’m not complaining about that, because I’m very grateful for this opportunity, but that’s the way it is. I need to earn some more money.’

"Colin said, ‘I want you to stay at home that weekend. I will pay you ten thousand just to stay at home. That’s how much I care about you, okay?’"

Obviously, Verstappen's reasons for wanting to sojourn in endurance racing are different from Mansell's – he's not exactly hurting for money (his ~£50m salary is a thousand times the Brit's £50k, or more like 275 times it adjusted for inflation) – but there is, at least, precedent for a team owner to successfully plead with his driver not to enter a 24-hour race on safety grounds. It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will try to do the same.

Incidentally, Mansell did eventually make his Le Mans debut 28 years later, as part of part of a three-driver line-up alongside sons Leo and Greg. He punctured and crashed hard just 17 minutes into the race, and was taken to hospital from the track. The accident caused a bleed on his brain, and left him unable to speak properly for months, or initially recognise his wife or children. He has since recovered, but never attempted the race again.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Nürburgring Nigel Mansell