Verstappen’s next races at the Nurburgring: double event on 18 and 19 April, also at night

Max Verstappen returns to the Nurburgring Here we go again with Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring. The four-time world champion in Formula 1 is not having fun, he threatens retirement in an increasingly less veiled manner and returns whenever he can behind the wheel of GT3 cars to prepare for his next participation in the 24 Hours of the Nordschleife which will be held on the weekend of May 16th and 17th. For example, he did it already after Suzuka, when he rushed to board a flight from Japan to get into the Mercedes AMG GT3 of his Verstappen.com Racing team, and he will do it again and again: for example, the next dates to mark in red on the calendar are those of 18 and 19 April, with the Dutchman who will run two 4-hour races in two days. The program leading up to the 24 Hours The programs were revealed by Motorsport.com, which reports that the Red Bull driver’s next objective is not so much, as one might have imagined, the third race of the NLS championship scheduled for April 11, but rather the two “qualifying” races for the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, taking place the following week. The reason is easy to say: in the two races on 18 and 19 April the track is slightly different than the one used in the NLS championship, but the configuration chosen is exactly the same as the 24 Hours. Furthermore, another thing that entices Max Verstappen, the Saturday race at the Nurburgring ends at 9.30pm, and therefore at night: a very important test for the four-time world champion, who up to now has driven in all the conditions of the Nordschleife, but not at night. Furthermore, the fact that Max will share the seat with Lucas Auer is also useful, given that both Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella – the two teammates with whom he raced in the race last March 21st, from whose finishing order the team was ousted due to technical irregularities regarding the use of tires – will be unavailable that weekend, as they are involved in the WEC in Imola. Auer was the only member of the 24 Hours crew with whom Max had not yet shared the cockpit, so the double appointment on 18 and 19 April, made possible only by the cancellation of the F1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, will ultimately be crucial for Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring.