Marko: There was no question of Max's lap on the Nordschleife!

      Max Verstappen is preparing to participate in the 4-hour NLS series race at the "Nordschleife," which will be an important stage in his preparation for the 24-hour marathon at the Nürburgring in May, and we have reported on this.

      In the past, Helmut Marko, who was responsible for Red Bull's racing programs until last year, had a categorically negative attitude towards such projects by Max, and he spoke about this in an interview with F1-Insider.

      "A few years ago, Max enthusiastically told me about Nordschleife. He wanted to organize a demonstration run there in our Formula 1 car," recalled the 82-year-old Austrian. "At that moment, it worried me greatly. There could be no talk of such a run! I think Max watched a crazy video about the record set by Timo Bernhard on the Porsche sports prototype built for Le Mans. I think he wanted to break that record in a Red Bull Racing car."

      This refers to the absolute track record set by Bernhard on June 29, 2018: the factory Porsche driver completed a lap of 20.8 km in 5:19.546 in the Porsche 919 Hybrid EVO, which has a power unit with a peak output exceeding 1100 hp.

      "In my opinion, it was too dangerous," Marko continued. "So I put an end to such discussions and forbade returning to this topic. Fortunately, now Max can enjoy racing at Nordschleife in a Mercedes GT3 sports car. Although I fear that the lap record set by Timo Bernhard still doesn't let him rest. After all, he is an old-school racer."