Jules Gounon was full of praise for his “amazing team-mate” Max Verstappen, claiming he’s the perfect co-driver for endurance racing ahead of contesting the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
The four-time Formula 1 world champion is making his debut at the historic event this weekend, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Gounon, Lucas Auer and Daniel Juncadella.
Verstappen’s entry has brought additional fan fare to the 2026 race, which has fully sold out amid the Dutchman’s ongoing endurance racing commitments that keep increasing.
But alongside that, he is also the founder of the Verstappen.com Racing team which Gounon competes for in GT World Challenge and that led to him being picked for the Nordschleife.
Gounon told Motorsport.com: “Max is an amazing team-mate to have. Since the first test we did in Estoril, I immediately understood that this person is coming from another planet, in a good way, because the guy is just amazing.
“On top of that, he’s a very nice team-mate, so if I had amnesia and I would not know the person, I would be like, ‘wow, this is a very good move that AMG brought this driver with us because he’s fast, he’s nice, he’s fun’.
Jules Gounon
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Images via Getty Images
“At the end, it’s what you need in endurance. In endurance, you need to share a lot of stuff, so if you don’t get along with your team-mate, it’s very difficult to have a nice atmosphere.
“And Max is very nice: he’s very open, very humble. There is no ego. So in this way, he’s a very nice team-mate.”
The #3 Mercedes is therefore the talk of the paddock this weekend and to many is the favourite for victory, but not just because of Verstappen.
Gounon is an already successful endurance racer with two victories at the Spa 24 Hours, having also taken the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance title with Juncadella, while Auer took the Sprint version of that championship in 2024.
So Mercedes is in a great position to take its first Nurburgring 24 Hours victory since 2016, when it won with Maro Engel, Bernd Schneider, Manuel Metzger and Adam Christodoulou.
“We are good on paper, but we didn’t win it for 10 years,” added Gounon. “So I really hope that we have a good race.
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“Once again, I don’t like to speak before, but we have prepared as much as we could, as best as we could and hopefully it turns out well.”
Yet Gounon knows looking good on paper matters relatively little at such a manic and unpredictable event, as various factors like mixed weather, strategy and reliability come into play.
“I really believe that all the 24-hour races, it’s something that’s meant to be – the place needs to choose you,” said the Frenchman.
“At the end of the day, you need a bit of luck to win the 24 hours. I lost many 24 hours where I really thought that I was going to have them.
“I’m doing sprint and endurance races, which is something very different, and in endurance, I really feel…at the end, you need to provoke your luck, that’s clear.
“But I feel in those big races where there’s a lot of aura from the place, the place needs to choose you.”
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