Jeremy Clarkson faced Nurburgring years before Max Verstappen’s latest challenge

Jeremy Clarkson looking confused with a pink VIP F1 pass round his neck with a blue and red shadow background — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring

Jeremy Clarkson faced Nurburgring years before Max Verstappen’s latest challenge

Clarkson though was not nearly as prepared as Verstappen at the Green Hell

Originally written by Dan Ripley. This version is a translation.

Saturday 16 May 2026 23:00

Max Verstappen returns to the Nürburgring this weekend as attention shifts away from Formula 1 and toward one of the most legendary circuits in motorsport.

The four-time world champion is set to compete in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, an event held on the infamous 'Green Hell' circuit — a daunting track featuring more than 13 miles of twisting pavement and roughly 170 corners. Its danger became so notorious that Formula 1 stopped racing on the original layout in the 1970s.

However, Verstappen is far from the first high-profile figure to step outside his comfort zone and attempt to conquer the iconic German circuit.

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In 2004 Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear attempted to attack the course himself. But in terms of trying something new, this is where the similarities between Clarkson and Verstappen end.

Because while ability is an important factor here, the biggest of all is unlike Verstappen, who races in F1 then finishes and goes and races again in simulators, Clarkson didn't have the faintest of clues how to get around the circuit.

Clarkson's Nurburgring challenge

At a track where a talented driver who knows the circuit could tackle it in a Ferrari Enzo in around eight minutes (excluding the GP circuit section), Clarkson's goal was to get round in a Jaguar S Type diesel in 10 minutes.

Schmitz, who sadly passed away in 2021, helped coach Clarkson around his first lap of the track... and he was five minutes off his goal. She looked shocked at Clarkson describing his driving style as weird and had doubts he would get under 10 minutes on his own and that it would 'take years'.

For the purposes of tone, this was all said in jest but she did have a point. Clarkson was driving around the Nurbrugring like Hans Moleman from the Simpsons.

Even after a full day of trying to learn the track, Schmitz's summary on Clarkson consisted of: "He looks a bit lazy behind the steering wheel like he can do everything like he is the best driver the world has ever seen, Michael Schumacher from Britain maybe but I think he isn't".

In fact perhaps the kindest thing Schmitz had to say about Clarkson's driving at this point was: "You're not 100 per cent talent free but 80 per cent".

The Nurburgring is a daunting challenge for anyone not familiar with the track

Five minutes slower

Trying to find five minutes around the Nurburgring for a newbie isn't as daunting a task as it seems though. Learning the circuit's corners take a lot of time, learning how to take them fast takes even longer. But in regards to the former, you can find chunks of time just through confidence and knowing where to position your car for the upcoming corner. Learning the circuit is a huge milestone.

Clarkson goes through a bigger nightmare when he practices the following morning - discovering the joys of a wet Nurburgring and finding out the hard way to stay off the kerbs as he spins the Jag and somehow keeps it out of a barrier.

But as the track dries and he becomes more familiar, the lap times start coming down and eventually as he crosses the line under the bridge, he creeps under the 10 minute mark at Nine minutes and 59 seconds. All convenient for a TV show, perhaps? Either way, it wasn't long before Clarkson was made to feel like a Nurburgring dunce again.

Schmitz's van challenge

An unimpressed Schmitz immediately proclaimed she could beat him in a van. Less than a year later, Schmitz tried just that, using a Ford Transit van she described as having the handling of a 'school bus', with Clarkson's co-presenter Richard Hammond on another episode of Top Geare.

But the first time was 23 seconds slower than Clarkson's, and given the technical prowess of Schmitz, finding this time wasn't easy. According to Hammond 'it was almost an impossibility'.

But while there was no time to be gained by the driver, there was by the van - and not by small measures. Tape was put on the front to block any holes for streamlining, everything inside the van including the passenger seats (and Hammond) was removed.

To create a slipstream for the van on the long straights and uphill sections, a Dodge Viper was called in to run in front of it. Surely this would get the job done?

...no, Schmitz was still eight seconds off as after wiping her brow in the van she called it 'the hardest race I've ever had in my life."

Speaking to Hammond afterwards, she reflected on being scared with the lengths she had to push: I" pushed hard I'm telling you I was sweating everywhere."

So Clarkson may have won overall, but given how close Schmitz got to his sporty Jaguar with a van that would otherwise turn up to sort your broken boiler out, it's clear that while you can learn the Nurburgring in a day or two, it takes a whole generation to master it.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

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