Max Verstappen marked his GT3 debut with victory at the Nürburgring Nordschleife

#31 Emil Fray Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Max Verstappen, Christopher Lulham

Photo by: Jan Brucke/VLN

Max Verstappen won on his GT3 debut at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, receiving a staggering amount of praise from Formula 1 fans as he entered the race on the back of his win at the F1 Azerbaijan grands prix.

The Red Bull F1 driver joined team-mate Chris Lulham for the four-hour race at the iconic circuit during the break between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix. After starting from third on the grid, the Dutchman took the lead of the race before Turn 1 and continued to extend the lead until he handed over to Lulham.

“It was great,” Verstappen said after the pair won the race. “During my first two stints, the car was amazing. After qualifying, I knew the car would be good on a dry track. Everything went well in terms of traffic, and we didn’t make any big mistakes. To win my debut race here is amazing.”

The victory unsurprisingly led to an onslaught of positive reactions from fans. While one fan on Reddit branded the four-time champion as a “generational talent”, another responded: “Multi-generational. We likely won’t see someone of this calibre for decades at the very least. The sheer skill combined with the mental fortitude of this dude is incredible.”

Other fans compared Verstappen’s “racing addiction” to that of two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso. “Love how new fans are getting to see how awesome it is to see their fave F1 driver just go off and do other racing to soothe their racing soul. Fernando mid-F1 season heading off to the Indy 500 was amazing. Or 2018 doing the WEC season while still driving for McLaren. It’s awesome to see these beasts just follow their racing addiction. The Nurb 24 can’t come soon enough [sic].”

While the Dutchman currently sits third in the F1 drivers’ championship behind leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in second, with seven race weekends remaining, another commenter claimed he was still the “best driver of the year”.

“His achievements this year are cementing his legacy more than any of the past four years, ironically,” they wrote. “It is very rare that one can say that the man leading the championship is not the best driver of the year, but this year is an exception.”

Another added: “Scary thing about him doing endurance is that it is another skill he adds to his toolbox. He is the best driver on the F1 grid and he is still improving.”