How F1 rivals reacted to Max Verstappen’s extra-curricular racing activities

Max Verstappen has been praised by some of his peers for his dedication to racing after making his endurance racing debut during a weekend off.

While many drivers will have made the most of a weekend without F1 to relax and recharge ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the same could not be said for four-time world champion Verstappen, who participated in a GT endurance race at the Nurburgring.

Verstappen followed up his dominant victory at the Italian Grand Prix by racing an underpowered Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 CS at last weekend’s four-hour ADAC ACAS Cup in order to obtain a permit required to race GT3 cars at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

This was all part of the Red Bull driver’s quest to enter the 24-hour race one day.

“Of course, my dream is eventually to do the 24-hour race, so I knew that that license needed to come. It was the perfect opportunity to do so,” the Dutchman explained in Baku.

Here are what several of Verstappen’s colleagues made of his endurance racing exploits, and whether they would be tempted to race outside of F1 in their spare time…

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber

“Just honourable how much he loves racing - how much time he puts into it. Formula 1, sim stuff, GT - he’s just such a passionate racer, fully committed to it, 24/7, lives and breathes it,” Hulkenberg said.

“I kind of admire it. I did it. I had a taste of it in 2015 - slightly different, of course - but if I would want to do that now, I’m not so sure. It was fun back then. But, yeah, just hats off to Max.”

Speaking about winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans on his debut in 2015 for Porsche, the German added: “It was very refreshing distraction. It’s a different racing environment.

“I dipped into it, had a few tests and then two race weekends and events. So, it was not super consuming for the whole year - it was a couple of months. But it’s always nice to explore other things.

“There’s always things you pick up. It’s not always one-to-one - things you learn and can apply in Formula 1. But if I look back on that year, obviously doing Le Mans was very successful, and at the same time, it didn’t hurt my F1 on-track performance. Quite the opposite, I think. So, yeah, it was quite fun.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

“Maybe in the future. I think, right now, I’m quite happy with where I am. But potentially in the future,” Piastri said.

“I think the biggest thing for me would just be giving that opportunity the respect it deserves. Racing at Le Mans, or Nürburgring, or whatever it might be - it wouldn’t be the wisest to just jump straight into a race. You’d want to do some laps beforehand.

“At the moment, time in the Formula 1 season is hard to come by. So probably not in the near future.”

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

“I’ve never done it in a race car, I’ve only done in a road car,” Lawson said of the legendary circuit.

“I raced the GP circuit in DTM, but me and Alex Albon took a couple of rental cars, jumped on a WhatsApp call, and raced each other around the Nordschleife, which was pretty fun. It’s an amazing track - there’s not really anything else like it in the world, and it’s very original, which makes it special.

“In general, Max likes racing - he’s very clear about that. He loves racing on his sim, and when he gets a break it seems he’s going to another track to test or drive other cars, which for him is pretty cool.

“In those kinds of cars as well, I loved my season in DTM. The racing is very close, it’s exciting. As drivers, you get a lot closer to each other and it feels a lot closer. It’s very difficult to do that in Formula 1. So it’s exciting.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

“Yeah, it’s cool. For us drivers, it’s fun to change discipline and challenge ourselves in different ways. It’s fun to feel different cars and experience different kinds of racing,” Stroll said.

“My experience from endurance racing was a lot of fun sharing the car - aside from waking up at 3am with half an hour’s sleep and jumping in and going for three hours. It’s a grind for sure, but it’s cool.

“It’s fun to change up discipline and try out different stuff.”

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

“I do drive quite a lot of GT cars because of my dad - he has the racing team - so I do end up driving GT quite a lot as well,” Antonelli explained.

“Even though it’s a different car, it’s still really good training to prove your skills - you have to adapt to a different car. Obviously GTs have very different behaviour compared to a Formula 1 car.

“When I go into GT, I try to challenge myself and get up to speed as quickly as possible. I also did a race two years ago with a GT, which was a different experience but quite fun. So maybe in the future, why not?”

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

“I think, in general, as a motor sport fan and lover, if you have the opportunity or the environment to make these things happen, for sure it’s something that must be very exciting,” Gasly said.

“I think it depends a little bit on the focus and the time you have available for these sorts of things. But in the future, clearly, I want to probably try different tracks, different categories just for pure excitement - just for your own pleasure.”