Verstappen names prestigious endurance race he wanted to enter

The four-time world champion kept himself busy during the April break by taking part in the Nürburgring Qualifiers, an event widely seen as a precursor to the prestigious 24 Hours of Nürburgring set to take place at the Nordschleife in just a few weeks’ time. The weekend, however, ended in tragedy following the death of 66-year-old Juha Miettinen, while Verstappen himself was denied victory after technical issues struck his Mercedes-AMG GT3 during the race.

Speaking to GPblog during media day in Miami, the Dutchman admitted he would like to take part in even more racing events outside Formula 1, although the packed calendar often makes that difficult. He pointed to the 24 Hours of Spa as an example, revealing he would already have competed in the iconic endurance race this year had there been no scheduling clash.

A potential appearance in Belgium is made impossible by the scheduling clash with Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, the tenth round of the season, which is set to take place at the end of June on the very same weekend as the 24 Hours of Spa.

The four-time world champion has been one of the most outspoken critics of the new 2026 cars and regulations, repeatedly voicing concerns throughout the opening rounds of the season. Ex-F1 designer Gary Anderson questioned whether the latest rule tweaks truly solved the underlying issues the FIA was attempting to address. According to him, drivers were still forced into awkward lift-and-coast techniques on straights in order to recharge the battery ahead of qualifying laps, while the risk linked to dangerous closing speeds had only been temporarily reduced rather than fully eliminated.

The Irishman also argued that the growing complexity surrounding battery deployment and energy management risks making Formula 1 increasingly difficult for fans to follow, with race outcomes potentially becoming more dependent on strategic calculations behind the scenes than on the drivers extracting the absolute maximum from the car on track.

In Anderson’s view, despite the recent changes introduced by the FIA, the sport has ultimately not moved far away from the same problems teams and drivers were already complaining about before the adjustments were made.