Mercedes chief says Max Verstappen has made working ‘quite difficult’ at the Nurburgring 24 Hours

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Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing, has admitted that Max Verstappen has made working ‘quite difficult’ at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. 

This weekend, four-time Formula 1 world champion Verstappen is racing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours for the very first time.

Although he is no stranger to the track, Verstappen could encounter multiple problems at the Nurburgring, nicknamed the ‘Green Hell’.

Perhaps as expected, Verstappen has attracted a lot of attention to the event, as fans are eager to see how he will fare in a completely different form of racing.

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Stefan Wendl on the impact Max Verstappen has had at the Nurburgring 24 Hours

Speaking recently to Daily Sports Car, Head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing, Wendl, expressed his delight to have Verstappen with the team.

Wendl began: “On the one hand, it’s enjoyable to get the attention. Also to see for the whole global GT3 business, what it means for every manufacturer, for the spectators, to get new fans coming from different backgrounds who have never seen GT3 racing.

“This is great to see, and this is great for our platform. It will help all the promoters globally and all the manufacturers, and that’s why we can be all happy that some F1 driver, specifically Max Verstappen, is joining GT3 racing to have fun and to enjoy racing.”

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READ MORE: Max Verstappen’s Nurburgring 24 Hours teammate admits winning is more a ‘dream’ than a ‘goal’

Despite being happy with the extra attention, Wendl went on to admit that the mechanics’ lives have been made a little harder.

Due to the tight spaces and the high access, Wendl stated that working around the number of media personnel trying to get a glimpse of Verstappen can be ‘quite difficult’.

Wendl added: “On the other hand, if you would ask one of the mechanics, probably they would have a different picture. As it sometimes makes working quite difficult, having so many people around, media guys and so on.

“At the Nürburgring specifically, with no space around the car, doing the pit stop, having 30 journalists around the car for practice sessions.

“When you jump in the car, you just see journalists and cameras around, but you should usually see a pit wall, so you need to adapt your working on it.

“But I think we should all be happy and deal with it as it’s good for our sport. It’s good for everything we do here, and hopefully we attract new fans, partners and sponsors who have the same passion for the sport as we do.”

After taking part in qualifying, Verstappen, along with teammates Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer, will start the race from P4 behind Scherer Sport PHX and two Red Bull ABT teams. The 24-hour race will begin at around 2pm UK time, with Team Verstappen chasing glory.