P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our Reaction to Max Verstappen’s Nurburgring 24 Heartbreak

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Max Verstappen proved once again why he’s one of the most talented drivers in motorsport history with a hugely impressive performance at the Nürburgring 24 Hours - even if the race ended in heartbreak...Our brand new live show 'Super Podding' is coming to the UK and Amsterdam this autumn! Get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1liveSign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.P1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Oh dear, dear, oh dear. We've had to do a podcast. Tommy is, I mean, I say we like doing podcast. Don't get me wrong. I meant we had to do one right this second. Tommy, you are in transit from Australia back to the United Kingdom. I thought it was safe to go for some interval training running.

And then Max Verstappen's car was like, see ya. And then I had to run all the way back. So I'm red, hot and flustered. Tommy, you're probably jet lagged out your mind. but we're here to talk about Max Verstabins and an erbegring heartbreak. We are, sadly, the heartbreak. We were literally chatting as I was about to land in Singapore, watched quite a lot of the race as much as I could have had before getting my flight.

And then, yeah, we were messaging going, oh, maybe, you know, I've landed, I've got a bit of a stopover, maybe we could record something once the results in. And didn't realize that that result of Max Verstappen would be very quick, because, yeah, within moments, the car broke down. So, yes, it's tough, very tough. Let's dive into that sad story a little bit more because it also is quite an insane timing story because we were just discussing it.

You, of course, were on your flight at the time. And I was like, oh, look, maybe we can talk about getting a social clip ready for when Max Verstappen wins. And I even said, what's the worst that could happen? And then genuinely, I'm not even kidding, about 60 seconds later, Juncadela was losing half a minute a sector and the car then broke down very soon after

so I just want to apologise for saying that I know there's a part of me that's like oh no poor you Tommy it's such a shame that you have to go through such heartbreak I've had 10 years of it but it is a sad story yes I've won at what cost because this was going to be the loophole for my

Maxis Tapen doesn't win a race this year prediction that if he'd won the Nurebag ring you'd have been like no it doesn't count and of course I've won but at what cost Oh my God as well And of course he got disqualified From the other race that he did

Yeah Yeah It's not going well is it for Max this year He might have to pop to Formula E or something But to get you all up to speed As to what this race was It's the 24 hours of Nureberg ring And Max Verstabom was racing in the top class

With teammates Danny Yon Jules Gunon and Lucas Auer In a Mercedes AMG GT3 It was all you know All the preparation came down to this moment. We've actually been lucky enough to go to the Nureberg ring 24 hours a long time ago, hadn't we, Tommy? And it was such an awesome experience, so much energy that it's a race that you can't really mimic at all. It's such

an awesome experience if you just want to see cars at night. Whilst with a beer in hand, it's just unbelievable. And I found myself mesmerized just watching Max Verstabins on boards for what felt like hours on end. It's an epic race. I, I, don't think it can be understated just how insane it is that a Formula One driver is doing this race. We've had them doing, you know, Le Mans and things. We've had Holcomberg. We've had Fernando Alonzo and obviously Max wants to go do LeMont at some point. But the Nuremberg Ring 24 hours is insanely dangerous. It's still an unbelievably dangerous circuit, obviously, a circuit that got banned from Formula One for being so dangerous. And I think he's the first driver, I think they

said active drivers, it's Nikki Louder to actually do this race, which shows kind of this doesn't happen these days. So it's insane that he's been doing it in the first place and been able to do it. It's an amazing story. It's been incredible to watch it sell out for the first time and people being able to watch this race. Because however much people will, you know, maybe,

and I hope not, some endurance fans might gate keep the sport and be like, are you any interest because of Max? really exciting moment for the sport to like get to showcase on a big platform just how epic this race is and I know a lot of people have been really enjoying it. Yeah, I don't think there's a better race that deserved the limelight more than the Nuremberg ring 24 hours. It is utterly epic. Now to bring you up to speed with some of the other things that happened, so Max and his team qualified P4 for the main race and Yung Goodell has started the race before handing over to Max Verstappen. Now, there were, I mean, as you would imagine, 24 hours of racing or 21, I guess, for Max's supposed to happen to him, really sorry. There's a lot of moments that can happen between now and then.

And I think the mesmerizing thing is watching and on board of the fastest class just tearing through the field and having to make moves that were utterly daring and audacious. Now, there was one that he made that was on the grass around the outside of another car that was in his class, I think it was. He was coming through the field, which was, I've heard the Italian commentary for this, and it's absolutely amazing. They said, Mama Mia. They were losing their minds. And I was as well. I could not believe what I was witnessing.

But I think the biggest moment of all had to be the airborne one that Max had, where he was essentially in the slipstream of another car. And, you know, there's aerodynamics, there's science behind it. But essentially, the front of his car lifted, because he was. so close to the car in front and that could have easily been race over then and maybe you know Tommy for your sake it would have been easier to process had it been over quicker thanks yeah I mean the the kind of moves that Max was doing I think the commentary team at one point were like I don't think this is this is this is not how you do endurance racing and it was epic to watch and and it's

max the Stappen being Max the Stappen he does it in Formula One but even in endurance racing he's He's not going to wait for the next corner to go for a dive bomb and things like that. And he's making these audacious moves. You know, the airborne moment, we talked about, you know, how incredibly dangerous this race. There's, of course, someone when Maxisthapen was last at the Norberg ring, someone was tragically killed, of course. And, you know, speaking of this airborne moment, you know, there was a really scary crash a few years ago where Jan Mardenbra caught some error exactly the same thing and actually killed his. spectator so it's a really scary moment and thankfully for Max and everyone involved it was just the car kind of came back down yeah kind of hit the hit the wall but nothing too crazy but yeah

an insane moment and just a reminder of how insane this circuit is and it didn't stop there in the night I've I loved this incident as well because it was very much a case of who's going to lift Oh wait, nobody is. Between Max Verstappen and Maro Engel, who's in the number 80 Mercedes, and basically their teammates, they're both in the same car, but they're not really teammates, they're both out to win. And they were coming up on two slower cars in the middle of the night, and they were side by side, and neither of them lifted,

and they hit each other twice. Somehow both of them got away with it. And I'm wondering, again, like, it was a drive shaft issue in the end, wasn't it, that caused the problem with Max. But I do wonder if the hit with the wall they had with the lift moment that we just spoke about. And also it was the right side of Max Rastappen's car again that hit with Engel.

So I do wonder if these moments sort of added up, which eventually maybe caused the issue. Yeah, probably didn't help things. I mean, that moment was absolutely insane with Engel. It was a case of like, you're not going to, like Max Verstappenna is not going to back out of a move you're battling with the wrong person here. And what's quite funny is,

Marrow Engel, of course, some people may have seen this depending on how online you are and how much you were up to speed with things. But of course, the famous Franz Herman, when Max raced at the Nureberg ring with that fake name and set these amazing lap times, it was Mario Engel who did that tweet, basically questioning Max just happens lap times.

And if he'd done the right BOP, balance of performance and if you'd got the right specification and Max clapped back and said why would I turn up to a test with the wrong you know engine specification the only time he uses Twitter by the way yeah exactly so there's a little bit of history it's obviously only like just a little Twitter beef but it's funny that that it's those two that had that little Twitter spat if you can even call it that and then we're going side by side at the Nureberg ring battling for the win it was epic to watch it certainly was So as I mentioned, three laps after the handover to Juncadela.

Drive shaft problem, slowed down, losing time, hand over fist. Felt like the commentary were watching a completely different sport. Oh my God. To realise that he was basically... Never Slander F1 commentary or TV direction again. I mean, I will. But my word, like, we were... I mean, they were playing a replay match this happened,

but Max was... You know, they've taken over, and Juncadela was leading by about 30 seconds. And then when it was showing three seconds, it's like, come on. And I understand the TV direction, that it's a massive track, there's a lot to pick up. It's not as easy as Formula One, but surely the commentary team have noticed. The literal leader, Max Lestappen's car is losing something, and basically, like, his lead has been completely wiped out. Yeah, and Max was unbelievable, by the way.

in the car. His pace was brilliant for someone that had never done the Nuremberg ring 24 hours before. He showed, you know, aside to him that as much as a Formula One driver, a four-time F-1 champion, an endurance race is a completely different kettle of fish and tests you in ways that a Formula One weekend never would. So yeah, they were very much on to win the race, and it would have been such an amazing moment to see. I'm sure Max would have probably got in on that final stint and sort of seen the car over the line. Of course, there is a, a, point where you can't put Max Verstappen in the car for 24 hours of the race because you have to have a, is it maximum of two and a half hours, I think, in the car, then you have a two-hour

break. But I think it would have worked out that Max would have seen the car over the line. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, he was there there with his teammates. It's a team sport at the end of the day. Junckerdella, Gunon and Auer, if I've said that correctly, I apologize. But yeah, yeah, the fact that they're like, they're all racing together and it's no disrespect to the others, but like it was like watching Fernando Alonzo a few years ago where he was, he did Le Mans and obviously, you know, he's racing against fantastic endurance drivers that have been doing for years and is a team sport, but Alonzo's stint, some of them at LeMond were absolutely incredible to watch. And this was the same sort of thing of like watching Max

fly through the field, make these really daring overtakes. Because if you've not, if you've not watched this race and you're just listening to this podcast, you know, we talk, this isn't even like Le Mans where there's a top class and then they're racing like GT cars. There's a Dacia,

like an old Dacia going from the track. Which conced out. I was very sad to see. Just after Max, I know, after Max's car. But it's epic. There's so many different classes and types of car going around.

So already a crazy dangerous circuit and an insane test of driver's skill. But it was epic to watch. And as you mentioned, I was in Australia at the time watching a lot of it. So I was actually on a very different time zone. So a lot of it, what I was watching was the night stint. And they were on board with Maxillard. And it was just absolutely epic to watch.

And also throwing in the fact that there was rain just randomly coming in and out, making some parts of the track slippery, some of course not. the night stint, but sometimes it would just be like bright sunshine. It's just a proper test of so many things as a drive around there. Let's get into some questions. P1Pitry member, Philly Burger. Did Max jinx himself? In the interview played before the issue, he said,

we couldn't wish for it to go any better. Yeah. Again, actually, there's another moment to talk about the literal lap that Max Verstappen came in, the Porsche that he was fighting at the time speared another car into the wall as Max was quite literally a car length behind and that could have easily been the moment where if the car had speared back out

and hit Max from hitting the wall then that could have been race over for him as well so at that point you're thinking ah surely it's written in the stars that Max is going to end up winning this one because there's been so many close moments that have ended up being okay but yeah it's sad to see

I think that the one small glimmer of hope, I suppose, well, not hope, but just in the sense of looking to the future, I think it will secure the fact that he's going to come back. You know, as much, you know, winning the N24, you're like, okay, cool, maybe what's next, what other, you know, races can I do, should I do Daytona or, you know, whatever, or LeMont? He hasn't won the NERBos in 24 hours, not due to his own mistakes or anything, but I'm sure there is an inner competitiveness that will make him want to come back even more than what he may have felt anyway.

Yeah, you do wonder if he'd have continued kind of doing it again and again, like if he's not going to win it, come back year after year. Had he won it in his first year, which was obviously looking likely that he could have done, it's difficult to know whether he would have done it again or immediately set his sights on, like Le Mans or something like that. So I guess the good side of this is we're probably very likely going to see Max has happened doing this again. I think that's great because, you know, it's an awesome race anyway, but to have a four-time Formula One World Champion in that race

just adds that extra level of excitement and, you know, the way he was driving as well. It was just absolutely ridiculous. So good. A question from IM2AHA. What has been your favourite thing about the Nurembergreen 24 hours? For me, it is the unpredictability. I think it's just that it's the multi-class racing around a circuit that's just all. already nuts. I mean, the fact that you've got, as we mentioned, like the Dacia is driving and it's

just absolutely ridiculous. Like, you've got Max in a, you know, like a four-time Formula One World Champion in a Mercedes AMG G2 car and he's there racing, like going past a Dacia or an old Mercedes or, you know, there's so many different classes. And it just means that it's like non-stop action, even if there's no actual racing within the classes. They're always passing and like weaving in and out. And because of the nature of the Nureberg ring of how there's so many corners, you'd never really get any breathing room. And I think that's just what makes it such a frantic race

that it does feel like a 24-hour sprint, basically. It really does. For me, the thing, yeah, it's the multi-class racing. It's the fact it's 24 hours. It goes from day to night. And the circuit itself is just, absolutely brilliant. I remember racing on the Nordsliver

playing like I'm trying to think what the name of that racing game was oh my goodness gracious me it wasn't even like Formula One or anything it was because obviously you know Nord Shlyfer good luck having that on another one game. Or like an Xbox like Fawse or something. Yeah yeah it wasn't even Fawes it was something that was going to annoy me but I'll

test drive. Maybe I it will come back to me but I remember doing laps on this thinking geez this is such a long lap and I think that in itself is just such a a unique thing to have an eight and a half minute lap or eight minute, you know, 10, I think, if you're in a Lambo. It's just, there's so much about it that I love.

It's so different to anything that we're used to, but also it has the same premise of its racing. And, yeah, I just love it. And the fact that Max has brought it in and come into the sport or, you know, to the category of the ennobo in 24 hours and been so quick. But no, he's not like so far down the road that he's. untouchable as well. Like he was, you know, tested.

And I think that in itself was great to watch. So for me, loads of things. But yeah, maybe the multi-class as well. A question from Chris Fitten 89. How long before Max enters Lamont 24 hours? Clearly has what it takes for endurance racing is an Alonzo-esque WEC sabbatical on the cards for 2027. No, no, I can't see him going full-time weck.

I really can't. I think he is committed to Formula One. will remain committed to Formula One for the foreseeable. I really don't buy into the retirement rumours. He's still allowed to go and play. He can go and play with his other toy cars, which is what he's doing right now. He's able to be in the Nuremberg in 24 hours.

I'm sure if there is an opportunity, he can also do the Lamont 24 hours. So there's no reason for him to take a sabbatical, in my opinion. And he loves racing that much that I just don't think he'd want to. So for me, yes, LeMond 24 hours is absolutely on the cards. if it works with the F1 schedule. And I think he'll come back to the Nürbeg Ring, as we just mentioned. Yeah, I think he'll do the Nerberg ring still and kind of tick that one off first.

I think the beauty of Laman is, and I guess it is the same for Nureberg ring, but he knows that when he does decide to leave Formula One, and he's already said this before, that he doesn't want to be going in Formula One until he's like 40. So he can do Laman when he is in his 40s or whatever. But even if he does want to sort of dabble in LeMond 24 and that was something that comes up, even if he's still in Formula One in maybe a couple of years or three years time, I think, you know, Nika Holkenberg and Fernando Alonzo to a lesser extent,

because I know Alonzo took a sabbatical, but then did kind of come back to Formula One. It shows that you can kind of do both, and you can just do the previous round. It just depends how the Formula One calendar goes. But I don't think we're saying, we're sorry. see it next year, particularly now the fact that he didn't win the Nobuhring 24. I think we'll just see him doing this race again next year and actually trying to get it

over the line this time. Fingers crossed. Yeah, hopefully for him, because he definitely deserved it, as did his other teammates. Question from B1 underscore G boss. Should he change his number? That number three brings nothing but bad luck. Yes, let's go back to 33. Bring back to 33, come on. because it's iconic anyway,

and I'm still absolutely good that he changed that number because for me it's just you shouldn't, you shouldn't be allowed to change your number, like one through in Formula One. He's made that number iconic. I know he's had the number one for the last kind of four years because he's won the championship, but like that's the number I think of.

I kind of almost even forget he's three, Max has happened three this year. He's still in my head like 33. I almost like ignore the fact that he's number three. But yeah, it seems like, you know, Daniel Ricardo's had all this. bad luck with number three. Max has taken it on board and then he's had the software issue in Australia and the retirement in China and even the disqualification in the Nurebegring and now

retirement in the Nurebegring and the spin in Miami is not going well so maybe a mid-season changed to 33 and let's get this championship back on track. Yes, let's blame it all on the number. I agree. I much prefer his 33 number. It's a bit more unique and it's clearly not working. So, yeah, let's all blame the number, and as soon as he changes it, which he's not going to change it, by the way. There's no chance he's going to have a mid-season change to number 33. But we will see. Next year, change back to 33.

Let's have a 20-23 season again where he wins. No, no, no, no, thanks. Actually, keep the number three. Keep the number three. Charles Leclair, change your number to 33. There you go. All right, that is it. Thank you, everybody for tuning in.

I hope you have enjoyed the little roundup. Of course, we had to cover it. Max Westapen involved in a massive endurance race. Tommy, how are you going to sum up we final thoughts. Final thoughts are gutted, of course, but yeah, looking forward to getting back home

and enjoying some Formula One together because I think we said this, didn't we, after the live show is like, oh my word, like, come on Formula One, like let's get this momentum going. This season has been so bizarre of all these long breaks and things. So yeah, looking forward to the season, just like kicking.

off now. Me too. Thanks everybody. We will see you very soon for our predictions for the next race. Canada. It's going to be great. I think Grace wants to come on. Grace, what's your final thoughts? Tell me what your final thoughts? I just say it into the microphone. Just say, I don't know. What do you think to Max Verstappen's Nurb-Ring race? Maxis-Sappen wins. Maxis-Up and wins.

Yes, okay. Max-Fistap and one. Thank you, Grace. Appreciate it. Nothing happened. in terms of retirement. Max was having won. More delusional than me. Congratulations. Yeah, love it. All right. Thanks, everybody.

We see you soon. Let's love. Take care. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST's creator network.