Max Verstappen's race wrecking Nurburgring 24 Hours problem explained

Daniel Juncadella has described the race-destroying technical problem at the Nurburgring 24 Hours as "just bad luck", after the car he shared with Max Verstappen was forced out of the lead with a three-hour pit stop.

The #3 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 had made steady progress after starting from fourth on the grid, assuming the lead as the sun began to set on Saturday evening, and holding the position for most of the morning. 

But three laps after Verstappen had completed his final double-stint and handed the car back over to Juncadella, the Mercedes was brought back into the pits for an unscheduled stop, with mechanics scrambling around the right rear corner. 

“I was driving without ABS, but actually it was not that bad. I could somehow manage it," said Juncadella. "I adjusted the brake balance a little bit to avoid locking the front tyres.

“The car was still drivable. I felt like they wanted me to box to investigate the issue, but I thought it was better to continue and see what we could do. Then I started hearing noises and, in the end, the car became undrivable. I felt like something was eventually going to break, so I drove slowly back to the pits.”

While this damage would have taken long enough to repair, Juncadella revealed further complications, adding: “That probably also created the electronic issue that confused the ABS systems and caused them to switch off.”

The car would eventually return to the track for a handful of laps prior to the chequered flag falling, but finished in 38th place - 18 laps back on the race winner. 

The #3 car's misfortune worked in favour of the sister Winward Racing #80 entry, with Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller, and Maxime Martin scoring Mercedes' first victory in a decade at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. 

In the darkness of the early morning, the two Mercedes cars had locked horns in a battle for the lead, with Verstappen and Engel banging wheels at one point, in a moment that saw the #80 drop two wheels onto the wet grass verge. 

Asked whether this of earlier contact of his own with the #84 Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghini could have caused the problems later on, Juncadella said: “No, I don’t think so. That was many hours earlier. I think it would be too much to say it was caused by that. That’s motorsport. Unfortunately, it happened to us today, but I don’t think there’s anybody to blame.”

He added: “I think it’s just bad luck. It’s a mechanical failure. The driveshaft was completely new.

“On top of that, we had actually been driving very carefully for the last six or seven hours because both cars were in such a strong position and there was no need to take unnecessary risks. We weren’t abusing the kerbs, we were being careful - and it still happened.”