Daniel Juncadella claims Max Verstappen’s Nurburgring ‘trick’ is ‘nothing special’ thanks to F1

Follow us on Google Discover

Daniel Juncadella feels his praise for Max Verstappen’s ability to manage traffic at the Nurburgring has been “blown out of proportion” following the NLS5 race last Sunday.

Verstappen made his latest visit to the Nurburgring Nordschleife last weekend, as he gets up to speed with the iconic Green Hell ahead of making his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut in May. The four-time F1 champion will share a Mercedes GT3 car with Juncadella and Lucas Auer.

Red Bull F1 racer Verstappen is already impressing many with his outings at the Nurburgring, as well. NSL5 commentator Neil Cole praised Verstappen for his “extraordinary” overtake on Christopher Haase, who the Dutchman fought with over the lead in Sunday’s four-hour race.

A reliability issue cost Verstappen and Auer their chance to win the NSL5 race, during which the former climbed from fifth on the grid to lead within half an hour. Verstappen’s battle for the lead with Haase especially caught the eye, as they ran side by side for most of the stint.

Max Verstappen’s F1 experiences make his Nurburgring traffic management ‘nothing special’

Juncadella particularly took notice of how Verstappen dealt with traffic to stay with Haase in his Audi R8 LMS GT3. But while the Spaniard initially hailed Verstappen for utilising a “trick” to manage the traffic, he feels more has been made of the comment than he had intended.

READ MORE: Every time that Max Verstappen has clashed with the media

In fact, Juncadella does not believe Verstappen’s “trick” was anything “special”, especially as the Dutchman is competing in the series with his years of experience in Formula 1 to call on. Thus, Juncadella thinks Verstappen better understands how to use his car to manage traffic.

“It’s not really a secret. It’s nothing special,” Juncadella told GPblog. “I said something and now that there’s so much attention on Max, it’s been blown a bit out of proportion.

“I’m not going to say exactly what it is, but it’s the way he approached traffic, the way he was able to follow Christopher Haase during the race.

“Of course, because he comes from Formula 1, where downforce is extremely high, the highest downforce in the world, and following other cars is difficult.

“He understands better, or is more accustomed to, how to influence the car’s balance when he’s running behind other cars.”

Verstappen is far from as experienced in GT3 racing as those he fought with over the victory in last Sunday’s NLS5 race, which he and Auer finished in P39 and three laps down following a reliability issue. But Juncadella thinks Verstappen’s F1 career helps him at the Nurburgring.

The four-time F1 champion is contesting his 12th campaign in the pinnacle of motorsport so far this year. Verstappen also ranks third in F1’s all-time Grand Prix win charts, with 71 to his name from 236 starts, since debuting for Toro Rosso back in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix.