Christian Horner has ruled out Max Verstappen’s chances of missing an F1 race to run a GT3 event in the future. The Dutchman set a new lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
“He’s so versatile and he’s so passionate about all forms of racing: sim racing, GT racing – he has his own GT team, effectively,” Horner told Sky Sports F1 last weekend.
“He was very keen to run at the Nurburgring. It’s something we’ve known about for quite some time. He went there and did an incredible job and really enjoyed himself. It’s what he loves doing and it would be very hard to take that away from him.”
Asked if he could miss an F1 event to drive in GT3, in a similar move to Fernando Alonso’s Indianapolis 500 attempt, Horner replied: “He’s not going to miss a race, that’s for sure. The focus has to be here on the day job. I think it’s great that he’s so versatile and I think, as Red Bull, we’ve always been slightly more relaxed than perhaps other teams in terms of the freedom that we’ve given our drivers.
“But he’s finding that compromise, finding that balance; obviously, the priority is here. But it’s great that he’s embracing all forms of motorsport.”
