Why Max Verstappen’s car at the Nurburgring is sparking a debate
Max Verstappen and his team have finished qualifying for the Nurburgring 24 Hours and will start the race in fourth place. The 24-hour race kicks off on Saturday at 3pm local time in Germany (2pm in the UK), and Verstappen is feeling confident that he and his team can take the win.
Verstappen will be driving a Mercedes-AMG alongside Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon, and Daniel Juncadella. However, Motorsports.com has pointed out that their car’s setup is different from other Mercedes cars in the race.
The main differences are in the suspension and engine preparations. Instead of using the usual Bilstein suspension that Mercedes-AMG normally uses at Nurburgring, Verstappen’s car has dampers and springs from Multimatic. This choice was made by Verstappen himself, even though Mercedes has an exclusive deal with Bilstein for their performance teams.
There’s been some talk about whether this gives Verstappen’s team an edge, but sources say both setups perform about the same. So far, the qualifying results back this up, with Verstappen’s team ending up fourth on the grid.
Pole position went to a Red Bull-backed car, with Luca Engstler in the #84 Lamborghini setting the fastest time. It’s a Lamborghini 1-2 on the starting grid, with Audi’s Christopher Haase taking third, just ahead of Verstappen’s team.
Daniel Juncadella drove the key laps for Verstappen’s car and was just under nine-tenths of a second slower than Engstler’s top time.