Max Verstappen is relishing the opportunity to race a more powerful car at the Nurburgring Nordschleife after gaining his permit last week.
The reigning Formula 1 world champion drove a de-tuned Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS at the famous German track last week in order to secure his DMSB Permit A. He now intends to return to the 20.8-kilometre course to contest a GT3 race.
“I like racing in general, also outside of Formula 1,” Verstappen told the official Formula 1 channel. “I knew that if I wanted to get my permit, I needed to do that race and we just went about it. It was all organised very well and they were all very helpful as well, from the organisation side.”
Although the car he drove last weekend was far less capable than the Red Bull RB21 he regularly races, Verstappen still found the experience useful.
“Every lap that you do around there at the Nordschleife is a different kind of experience,” he explained. “So for me, it was still very useful, even though, of course, people say [because] the car is down-tuned it must be very boring.
“Of course, the car is not the most exciting car to drive, but I look at it in a different way. You try to then focus on other things that might be useful in the future when you go there with a proper car, like a faster car.
“I had fun, it’s a nice environment to be in. It’s a bit different to Formula 1 and I don’t mind it.”
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Verstappen returns to F1 at Baku this weekend having won the previous round at Monza. He said his third win of the season had been a “big boost for everyone” at the team but he isn’t sure whether they are likely to be able to repeat it this weekend.
“I’m excited to be here and see how competitive we can be on this track,” he said. “It’s very difficult to tell.
“With our car, I think we made some good steps forward. We have to wait how it will behave on a track like this, which is of course very different to Monza.”
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