Verstappen wins a spectacular battle with Audi driver Haase to take provisional P1

The two drivers had eariler fought it out during NLS2. Afterwards, Haase said he felt greatly honoured by the kind messages he received. "We have enormous respect for each other and it was a very good fight," the German said on Saturday afternoon in the Eifel to GPblog—unaware that he would be fighting Verstappen again on Sunday.

Verstappen and Haase found each other early after the start of NLS5. The four-time F1 world champion started from P5 and had some positions to make up. At the start, he immediately gained a place. He then began chasing Haase, who was running third. The German in the blue Audi had already made his own charge to the lead by overtaking Dennis Marschall and Thomas Preining.

Verstappen also went on the attack early. He made several attempts to overtake Preining in his Porsche. He ultimately succeeded, after which Marschall was ahead of him. While he then was caught up in traffic, Verstappen saw an opportunity to overtake him. On the outside, the Dutchman in his Mercedes AMG GT3 got past Preining.

As a result, Verstappen was already hunting the lead early in the race, which was held by Haase. During NLS2 the two had been locked in a long fight for the lead. However, Verstappen needed less time to get past the German driver. Just under half an hour in, the Dutchman pulled off an overtake on the driver in the Audi R8. As a result, the four-time Formula 1 world champion is now leading.