Max Verstappen’s three hours in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Portimao on Saturday were only the start. By the time he climbed out of the #3 Team Verstappen Racing car in ninth place, the Dutchman had already set out where he wants to be a year from now: on the entry list for the two endurance races he will not let go of.
The 24 Hours of Spa, scheduled for 26-27 June 2027, sits at the heart of a serious GT campaign he is building around his Formula 1 commitments. Speaking in Portugal, he said the Belgian classic is a race he is actively trying to make fit.
“I love Spa of course, so I’m trying to make it work, as I want to arrive well prepared,” he told reporters at Portimao.
“It’s close to the Dutch border and I’m also half Belgian. For me it would be nice to join and to race in one of the biggest endurance events.”
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The 2027 Formula 1 calendar helps him. Spa falls between the Portuguese Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and the Nürburgring 24 Hours, which he is also targeting, is scheduled for 27-30 May between the Canadian GP and Monaco. Neither clashes with a Grand Prix.
Nürburgring unfinished business
The return to the Eifel is driven by a near-miss. Verstappen led the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo shared with Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer before a driveshaft failure stopped the car with under four hours to go.
Asked earlier this season about his 2027 priorities, he set the limits of the plan plainly.
“Nurburgring and Spa, probably. Le Mans not. Yeah, that’s not on my list for now,” he said.
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Ford had sounded him out about a Hypercar seat at Le Mans. He turned it down.
Portimao as the dry run
Saturday’s three-hour race was the practical rehearsal. Starting 14th in the Mercedes-AMG shared with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat, Verstappen’s team dropped to 24th after Lulham was given a drive-through penalty for sending Luca Stolz’s #48 MANN-FILTER Mercedes into a spin at Turn 8.
Verstappen then took the final 45-minute stint and gained 15 places, bringing the car home 18.556 seconds behind the winning #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry.
Sharing a car with teammates is new ground for him, something he told PlanetF1 he had only tasted before at the Nordschleife earlier this year.
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Verstappen is back in the Red Bull for the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 23-25 October, where he sits fourth in the drivers’ championship, 119 points behind leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
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