Why Verstappen's Nurburgring adventure was a successful failure

Edd Straw· Host0:00

[gentle music] The Athletic. [upbeat music] The race is on, and while his colleagues were putting their feet up and enjoying a weekend without racing, Max Verstappen was taking part in one of the most demanding 24-hour events in the world. But how did he get on? What impact did he have on the race? And what does this tell us about his future? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me from the Nürburgring is Josh Suttle. Well, Josh, you've done a 24-hour race, so how fit are you for, for podcasting? That's the big question. Did you have much sleep?

Josh Suttill· Guest0:37

No. Uh, I, I did go for a sleep strategy. Some people went all the, all the way through, but I learned my lesson from before. I did that at Le Mans before and would not recommend it to anyone. So this time I g- had, uh, two hours, about 3:00 a.m., uh, and didn't actually miss too much. So it w- it was actually well-timed. So I was quite proud of my strategy, and yeah, feeling, feeling really great now.

Edd Straw· Host0:57

Yeah, I'm a great believer in that strategy. I always, when covering 24-hour races, went away, even if you just had, like, an hour's sleep, get up, have a shower, break up, create a new day. That's actually a, a really important thing to do, and you have made it to the end of the race successfully, unlike the number three Mercedes of Max Verstappen, Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Lucas Auer, that was leading and in a commanding position until problems struck just sort of within the four hour, uh, to go mark, wasn't it, uh, Josh? So was victory guaranteed, and what went wrong?

Josh Suttill· Guest1:29

Well, I think victory