In the build-up to the Chinese round, Max Verstappen revealed that he will race a Red Bull-branded Mercedes AMG GT3 car in this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hour race in mid-May as part of a four-driver team. The multiple Formula 1 champion may not be the greatest fan of the current format of the new F1 regulations introduced this year, but he has long been passionate about endurance racing and particularly around Germany’s iconic Nordschleife track.

The timing of the race has been amended to enable Verstappen to attend between the F1 events in Miami and Montreal, with the organisers being well aware that his participation will massively increase fan attendance both at the event and online. Verstappen is also keen to investigate the possibility of competing in further sportscar races in Germany next month, with the conflict in the Middle East having caused the cancellation of April’s scheduled Grands Prix in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.



For the last few months it has been an open secret that a consortium headed by the former Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has been very interested in buying the 24% stake in the Alpine Formula 1 team currently owned by an investment group called Otto Capital, with the other 76% controlling shareholding being in the hands of the automotive giant, the Renault Group.

However, it has also always been clear that there are several other unnamed parties interested in making the purchase, and it is now clear that one of these is the Mercedes F1 part owner and team principal, Toto Wolff, or, to be more precise, Mercedes itself. So, this isn’t about any renewal of the often intense previous rivalry between Wolff and Horner but is connected to Mercedes as a corporate entity exploring potential strategic investment opportunities.

Alpine is now a key customer of Mercedes as a purchaser of its power units, and thus a significant business relationship already exists. Any acquisition of a shareholding in Alpine by Mercedes would only help to strengthen this position, although this would also raise questions about Mercedes becoming a part owner of a rival team.



The significant reliability and performance challenges, which the Honda-powered Aston Martin team has been facing, have been well documented, but another British-based outfit is also currently struggling after having enjoyed a decent 2025 season. Namely Williams. It benefits from again having Mercedes power units, but it’s clear that the team is unable to extract anything like the same pace from it which the works Mercedes squad can.

The biggest problem, though, is the weight of its new car, which is well in excess of the 768kg minimum set by the F1 regulations. As in all forms of motorsport, any excess weight which you have to carry with you around every lap while ontrack can only make you slower and thus less competitive, and it will be fascinating to see how successful team principal James Vowles and his colleagues are as they seek to address this major problem.