Max Verstappen will make his first real-life 24-hour race start this weekend when he lines up at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in a Red Bull-branded Mercedes-AMG GT3. The race begins at 2pm on Saturday, and fans in the United States can watch it live for free on the Sky Sports app.
Verstappen, who became a four-time F1 world champion at the end of 2024, has spent the last 12 months making six outings at the Nordschleife to prepare for the step. The move takes him into one of the most punishing events in motorsport, with 161 cars entered and 23 different car classes sharing a 15.769-mile circuit that leaves little room for error.
The Dutch driver signalled in March that he wanted to race in other motorsport categories, saying big endurance races were something he had watched since childhood because his father competed in them. He also said he did not want to be only an F1 driver and that, having already achieved what he wanted in Formula 1, now was the right time to explore other things rather than wait until he was 40.
That backdrop helps explain why this weekend matters beyond a one-off appearance. Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut at 17 in 2015 and has already built a career that left him room to chase something different. He has also described the Nordschleife as “The Green Hell,” a nickname that fits the scale of the challenge ahead.
The circuit is regarded by many as the toughest racing track in the world, and the race adds another layer of difficulty once darkness falls. Drivers in the top class, where Verstappen’s team is racing, must thread their way through slower traffic while sharing the track with Mercedes-AMG GT3, Porsche 911 GT3 R, BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 cars.
The Dottinger Hohe straight, at 1.333 miles, offers the best overtaking chance, and cars can reach over 190mph there. Even so, a GT3 car can last around an hour on a full tank of fuel if nothing goes wrong, which means the race will hinge as much on traffic, timing and restraint as on outright speed.
Verstappen is no stranger to the pressure of racing against the clock and around others. He regularly competes in sim racing for Team Redline, a European professional sim racing team, and the jump to a full 24-hour event looks less like a novelty than the next stage of an already deliberate plan. The question now is not whether he can drive quickly enough for the Nordschleife, but how far he wants to take this second career once the green flag drops at 2pm Saturday.
