Max Verstappen details how his GT3 plans for 2026 are now getting ‘more and more serious’

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Max Verstappen is much more than just a Formula 1 driver. In 2025, he became both a father and a GT3 winner.

Red Bull are content with him getting as much racing as he can into a packed schedule, and if anything, it helps to keep him sharp.

Verstappen has always been a keen sim racer, and this year he took his passion one step further by competing in a GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race at the Nurburgring.

Although the 2026 F1 regulations will demand a lot of his time and effort, he isn’t going to abandon his hobby any time soon. He has ambitious plans.

The FIA has confirmed that Max Verstappen will switch to #3 in 2026. What would you pick as your F1 driver number?

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Verstappen called Red Bull’s new engine ‘crisp’ after hearing it fire up for the first time. They’ll be supplying their own engines for the first time ever next year.

Oliver Minzlaff dismissed a ‘nonsense’ Verstappen claim that he controls things behind the scenes at the team. It’s not how their operation works, he insisted.

READ MORE: Oliver Mintzlaff outlines why Max Verstappen will ‘remain loyal’ to Red Bull beyond 2026

Max Verstappen is preparing ‘bigger and better’ GT3 racing plans for 2026

Looking to the future, Verstappen would like to team up with Fernando Alonso at Le Mans if he ever gets the chance to do an endurance race with him.

For now, that’s not possible, though. What he can focus on is the GT3 racing that he is permitted to do. In 2026, his plans are about to get ‘bigger and better’, he has just informed the Talking Bull Podcast.

“Yeah, it’s becoming more and more serious,” he said. “We entered, of course, this year, not as a pro car, but in the gold cup.

“One of the drivers that jumped in came from the sim racing world, so for me to immediately put him in the pro car championship was probably a bit much, I would say.

“But, I always said, we do compare ourselves with them, in terms of lap time – that’s the target.

“Now we won the gold cup championship, so the one just below the pro cars, which I think was our target, starting the year,” Verstappen continued.

“I think also throughout the year, the drivers made some nice steps forward, really understanding also how to overcome difficulties with the car, balance.

“Understanding how to go faster and optimising qualifying and race stints. Next year, we want to be in the pro championship, basically. We’re changing cars, I cannot say which one yet, but you will find out soon. It’s getting bigger and better.”

READ MORE: Max Verstappen did something ‘really unusual’ in GT3 racing during his sensational Nurburgring display

How good is Max Verstappen at driving GT3 cars?

Verstappen’s GT3 debut was ‘almost impossible to explain’, and one of his strongest skillsets was being able to weave in and out of traffic without a problem.

It’s a completely different form of racing from what he’s used to, and yet he still took to it like a duck to water.

His sim racing exploits will have helped a great deal with that, and winning at the Nurburgring only will have fuelled that fire a little more.

With 24 races to attend yet again in 2026, there will be limited time for Verstappen to dedicate to closed-cockpit racing. But, it seems that he won’t be dropping it from his calendar any time soon.