F1 Today | Verstappen Racing reacts to DNF heartbreak, Nurburing 24 wins slips from fingers

Max Verstappen had just finished with his third double stint when his teammate, Daniel Juncadella, took over for him. Shortly after that, the #3 Mercedes came back into the pits. While the issue was not known at first, the right-rear wheel was removed, and the car was put on jacks.

Soon after, Steven Windl revealed to fans, "After the pitstop from Max to Dani, Dani reported on the outlap an ABS failure, which leads us to assume that there is an electrical failure. We try to reset, and on the first lap, he could continue without losing too much time,"

Due to ongoing repairs and multiple technical issues, Verstappen Racing was unable to rejoin the race until the final laps. This was intentional as they wanted to cross the line and bring the car back home for the fans who supported them over the weekend. The Winward Racing team were able to complete the repairs and send Juncadella back out onto the track. Unfortunately, the team was left down in P38 as they did not finish the race.

After the race, all four drivers were understandably upset. Writing on Instagram, Jules Gounon said, “The word heartbroken probably doesn't even come close to what we feel right now. We were doing everything right with Max, Luggi (Auer) and Dani (Juncadella), but the Green Hell had other plans. It's crazy how this sport can give you the highest highs and, in the next moment, make you feel ten feet underground. At the end, an issue with three hours remaining took it away from us. Massive thanks to the whole team for the unbelievable work and effort. Need a little time away to process this one.”

In the comments of Gounon's post, Verstappen commented, "We'll be back mate!"

Lucas Auer shared his feelings with Mercedes-AMG, saying, “It was a very good race. Obviously frustrating, but I'm also proud of our group, and it was an absolute pleasure to share the car with the guys and with the whole team. I think we managed everything very well. Obviously, there was a lot of media attention, a lot more people, but we really were well organised, and at the end of the day, anyway, for GT3, it's amazing what we've seen here."

Theories floated around that the DNF could have been caused by Verstappen’s and Maro Engel's collision during the nighttime stint. To that, Juncadella said, "No, I don't think so. I mean, in the end, that was many, many hours ago, and I think it would be too tricky to really say that it's due to... It's just motorsport. It happens, unfortunately, it happened to us today, but I don't think there's anybody to blame.”