Max Verstappen’s team was set to win on debut at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, but a late driveshaft failure handed victory to the sister Winward Mercedes
Max Verstappen’s team was set to win on debut at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, but a late driveshaft failure handed victory to the sister Winward Mercedes’s debut at the Nurburgring 24 Hours ended in heartache as a late mechanical problem handed victory to the sister Winward Mercedes.
It came as Juncadella received an ABS alarm, which he initially thought he could manage, but then “noises and vibrations” emerged from the cockpit causing him to pit two laps later. The issue therefore put a bittersweet ending on an otherwise dominant race for the German marque, despite the #3 and #80 respectively qualifying fourth and 25th - Engel crashed in qualifying.
That came via a puncture for the polesitting Lamborghini after it was tagged by the #3 Mercedes at Turn 2, but it was nothing more than a racing incident despite complaints from Abt boss Martin Tomczyk. His woes intensified as its sister Huracan, which was also on the front row, was given a 32s penalty for a jump start allowing Juncadella to finish his stint in third after dropping from second to fourth due to troubles negating traffic.
Verstappen was the man to replace him after 60 minutes and the four-time Formula 1 world champion subsequently delivered a performance masterclass to vault his car into contention. The Dutchman ultimately ended his stint with a 23s lead after three hours, an advantage that soon grew due toThe Frenchman called it a “difficult” stint but thankfully for Verstappen Racing, it re-overtook the Aston and BMW via the pitstops before Auer launched an attack on Schiller around six hours in.
From this point onwards, the Mercedes duo was dominant in the dry, the #80 getting up there thanks to good strategy and staying out of trouble, as they constantly squabbled for the overall lead. It reached a new level when Verstappen jumped aboard for a second time around the 11th hour, 2am locally, when he very quickly cut a six-second deficit to Engel.
The world champion overtook at Dottinger Hoe before Engel fought back, trying to edge by at Tiergarten on the 12th hour, while they both also tried to overcome traffic. But Verstappen didn’t yield and while occupying the middle of the road, he and Engel banged wheels causing the #80 Mercedes to take the grass on the right and drop back a couple seconds.
Considering Mercedes was searching for its first Nurburgring 24h win since 2016, the incident caused the German marque to instruct its cars to hold position and secure a dominant 1-2. That is the way it was going as the #3 AMG built an advantage of more than 20 seconds, while the rest of the grid was minutes behind the top two so Mercedes didn’t need any more hair-raising moments.
But then everything changed around the 21st hour when a driveshaft failure emerged that would ultimately deny Verstappen and co a memorable victory at the Nordschleife.
“That’s it,” said Verstappen, whose co-driver Juncadella denied it was down to banging wheels with Engel, on social media. “A really tough one to take. From the lead, our car suffered a broken driveshaft, ending our fight for the win. Thank you all for your support throughout the weekend.
” The #80 Mercedes was effectively handed the win and crossed the line 1m18s ahead of the polesitting Lamborghini to give the German marque its third victory at the historic event. Completing the podium was the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin with BMW, Porsche and Ford all represented in the remaining top 10 positions.
Nurburgring 24 Hours: Heartache for Verstappen Racing as mechanical problem hits late onMotoGP Catalan GP: Fabio di Giannantonio wins twice red-flagged Barcelona raceFrom Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Please follow us on Google to support us United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Nurburgring 24 Hours: Max Verstappen on course to win in Mercedes 1-2Mercedes has dominated the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours with Verstappen Racing currently holding a 14s advantage out front
Read more »
Nurburgring 24 Hours: Max Verstappen leads as daylight breaks after 18 hoursProgress update as Max Verstappen contests the Nurburgring 24 Hours
Read more »
Max Verstappen Mercedes loses debut victory at Nurburgring 24 Hours due to driveshaft problemThe Max Verstappen Mercedes dropped out of contention late in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, having previously dominated the race. The car was forced to stop from the lead late on, and both drivers had a collision when Engel tried to regain the lead. The first signs of a problem emerged around the 21st hour, and Juncadella was forced to slow down and come into the pits with a driveshaft problem.
Read more »
Nurburgring 24 Hours: Mercedes wins dramatic race, Max Verstappen finishes after technical issueThe sister car to Max Verstappen's won the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours
Read more »