The Dutchman could not shine in the qualifying races for the 24 Hours, amulti car crash claimed the life of an amateur driver and a mechanical failure left him without victory. F1, once again in his sights.
Max Verstappen's return to the fearsome Nordschleife could not have been more fateful, the Red Bull driver competed this weekend in the qualifying races for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (NLS4 and NLS5) and came across a desolate scenario: a fatal accident, a mechanical failure when he was in first place, and a previous disqualification that he is still carrying.
Tragedy struck on Saturday during NLS4, on lap 3, a multi car crash at Klostertal Karussell involved seven vehicles. The most serious impact was that of 66 year old Finn Juha Miettinen, a veteran of endurance racing and of the Nordschleife itself, Miettinen, who raced as an amateur in a BMW 325i, lost his life, it was the first fatal accident in the category since 2013.
The race was suspended immediately, Verstappen, who had qualified sixth but was penalized three positions due to an incident involving his teammate Lucas Auer, could not even start, on Sunday, before NLS5, a minute of silence was held.
The Dutchman started fifth and quickly demonstrated his superiority, he overtook one by one until he got into first place, with a 30 second lead that seemed insurmountable, but on lap 10, a mechanical failure forced him to pit, he lost valuable time and ended up in 39th place, far from the victory he was seeking.
The weekend had already been plagued with problems: on Friday, his Mercedes AMG GT3 was penalized and in March, in his first race of the year in NLS2, he had won but was disqualified because his team used seven sets of tires, one more than allowed.
Verstappen competes this season in the NLS with a Mercedes AMG GT3, following the agreement signed with Toto Wolff in December, he does so with the Mercedes AMG Team Verstappen Racing team and with a curious detail: the #3 car carries the Red Bull logo, the great rival of Mercedes in F1.
Asked about Miettinen's death, Verstappen avoided dramatics, he said that risk always exists in competitions and that he will continue with his goal of racing the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. He took the opportunity to once again criticize current Formula 1: he does not enjoy racing when the car is "driven by software" and energy management dictates more than the driver.
In ten days, Verstappen will be at the Miami GP with Red Bull, then he will fly to Germany for the 24 Hours, the tragic weekend at the Green Hell only reinforced his love for real racing, the one that is not decided by algorithms.