Max Verstappen gained ‘respect’ from NLS drivers by refusing private Nurburgring briefing

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Max Verstappen suffered heartbreak in his latest GT3 race at the Nurburgring after his victory was stripped through disqualification, but the Dutchman earned great respect from his competitors.

Verstappen competed in the second round of the Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie on Saturday, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo alongside Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. It is the second GT3 race the Red Bull driver has competed in at the ‘Green Hell’.

Last year, the four-time Formula 1 champion set an unofficial lap record of the circuit in a Ferrari 296 GT3. Verstappen later won his first GT3 race, driving the same car with Chris Lulham in the Nurburgring Endurance Series, winning by 24 seconds.

In preparation for the 24-hour race, the 28-year-old took to the Green Hell again with Juncadella and Gounon. Verstappen grabbed pole position for the NLS race and later won by almost a minute. However, the trio were later disqualified.

Max Verstappen earned ‘respect’ for not having an ‘individual briefing’ at the Nurburgring

The team used seven sets of tyres during the race, exceeding the limit of six allowed. The disqualification will hurt Verstappen, especially after claiming the win by such a strong margin.

But the Dutchman did endear himself to the category’s regulars, according to a report from Auto Motor und Sport, after he took part in a driver briefing on Friday.

Previously, the Red Bull driver has kept to himself during events at the Nurburgring. Verstappen conducted a secret test in 2025 under the pseudonym ‘Franz Hermann’ and had an individual briefing before his first race in the Ferrari 296 GT3.

However, this time, he ‘arrived punctually’ for the briefing for English-speaking drivers and ‘listened to the words of NLS sporting director Christian Vormann’. The NLS drivers ‘paid him respect’ for his actions.

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Stefan Wendl ‘very disappointed’ by Max Verstappen disqualification

In a statement after the disqualification, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Stefan Wendl was hurt by the decision and said they would assess what went wrong.

“The NLS weekend will remain in our memories for a long time: we saw pure racing on the track, experienced an extraordinary day in terms of atmosphere and were initially delighted with the supposed race victory,” it read.

“The disappointment was all the greater when we realised that we had made a mistake behind the scenes that morning and the race organisers were forced to disqualify the winning car. That hurts, and naturally everyone involved is very disappointed.

“It shows once again that you can only win on the Nordschleife if everything comes together. Winward Racing, who managed the deployment of the two Performance cars, were competing in this line-up for the first time in the NLS.

“Now we need to analyse the mistakes, whilst also taking the positive lessons from the weekend on board and focusing on the remaining preparatory races as well as the 24-hour race.”