Drama ensued even before F1 star Max Verstappen got out on track during his appearance at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race weekend, with reports of unprofessional behavior from some journalists emerging. Journalist Vincent Bruins reported that a few photojournalists did not stop taking pictures of the Dutchman even during the driver briefing on Thursday.
Max Verstappen at the 24h Race at the Nurburgring – Source: Getty
Verstappen is of course taking part in the 24H race at the Nurburgring over the weekend, driving the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 operated by Winward Racing. He is making his 24-hour debut, driving alongside Daniel Juncadella, Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon at the Nordschleife.
But before the weekend even started with qualifying practice 1 on Thursday, Max Verstappen was already faced with some controversy. Journalist Vincent Bruins reported on Thursday that a few photographers behaved unprofessionally, taking pictures of the 28-year-old even after the drivers’ briefing had started.
The situation apparently escalated to such an extent that Race Director Walter Hornung had to step in to ask the photojournalists to “behave” themselves.
“They didn’t give Max a moment’s peace. The situation got so intense that race director Walter Hornung had to intervene to tell them to behave,” said Bruins.
“He was at the drivers’ briefing, but even here some people just wouldn’t leave him alone, to the point where Race Director Walter Hornung had to step in to tell them to behave.”
Bruins also made the point that the journalists present at the drivers’ briefing are supposed to be seated and remain quiet once the meeting starts, but weren’t doing so in the presence of Max Verstappen on Thursday. This is what prompted Walter Hornung to step in and handle the situation.
Max Verstappen’s teammate weighs in on chances of winning the 24H Nurburgring
Max Verstappen’s teammate at the 24H Nurburgring, Daniel Juncadella, weighed in on their chances of winning the race, saying that the whole team needs to remain “open-minded”. The Spaniard also shared that he believes the Nurburgring “chooses its own winner”, pointing to the fact that nothing is guaranteed in the 24-hour event.
Speaking about their chances to Sportscar365, Juncadella stated:
“We all want to win and Max is an extremely competitive character, but you have to be very open-minded. I always say Nurburgring chooses its winner because there’s so much luck involved in many scenarios, so it can be a bit of a lottery sometimes.”
The weekend commences on Thursday, May 14, with two practice sessions scheduled for the day. Qualifying will take place on Friday, with Top Qualifying 1 commencing at 10:15 AM track time (CEST) (GMT+2). The race starts at 3:00 PM track time on Saturday and concludes exactly 24 hours later on Sunday.
