Wheel fight with Verstappen at the Ring, Maro Engel amused: “I was laughing alone in the car”

The bitter ending of Max Verstappen’s 24h Nurburgring The much desired victory ultimately faded away, mainly due to a technical problem that forced the mechanics to work for more than an hour on the rear axle of Max Verstappen’s number 3 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Until the transmission shaft broke which forced his partner Daniel Juncadella to park in the garage with just over three hours to go while he was comfortably leading the race, the only real threat came from its sister Mercedes, the number 80 also managed by the Winward team (the same one that operated on the #3 Super Max) and driven on the track by Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Maxime Martin. Click here to add Formula Passion as your favorite source on Google Discover: you will find our content more easily! Maro Engel and the honor of arms However, it is undeniable that Engel himself was one of the great protagonists of the challenge, also and above all thanks to the night-time brawl against Max Verstappen, when the two Mercedes began their dance with aggressive entries and hysterical displays at the lapped crews of the slower categories. Not without, however, a moment of great tension, with the near-swing at the end of the legendary long Dottinger Hohe straight, with Engel forced to abort his attempt to overtake the four-time F1 world champion on the grass. Extreme maneuvers which, however, did not upset Maro Engel. Indeed, the strong German driver, after having crossed the finish line first by winning the 24h of the Nurburgring for the second time in his career (the first, ten years ago, in 2016 with the Mercedes SLS of the Black Falcon team), told GPBlog with amusement about the long battle with Max Verstappen: “I have to say that I really enjoyed fighting against him. It was super fun to see him push to the limit with the Mercedes, seeking the limits during the night, and I think it was the same for him too. It’s special to see a driver like Max come to race here and obviously he did a crazy job. While I was in the car, in battle with him, I was smiling all by myself. It was really fun. Special moments “It’s incredible – adds Engel – also to see that last year there were 280,000 spectators while in this edition they exceeded 350,000. I think it’s largely thanks to Verstappen. Obviously he contributed to placing this race even more on the map of world motorsport, and we certainly have to be grateful to him for this. His driving, then, is always fantastic and we certainly had more fun in the car than the guys on the team, who they were a little more tense and I think they appreciated the fact that we calmed down a little afterwards, obviously when you’re behind the wheel… well those are the moments you live for when you’re a driver. Especially against someone like Max Verstappen…

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-19 01:00:00