Max Verstappen confirms April races despite F1 grand prix cancellations

Max Verstappen has confirmed he will race in April despite the recent cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.

Formula 1 announced earlier this month that due to the war in the Middle East and Iran's attacks on its neighbouring countries in the region, it was unsafe for the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to go ahead on April 10-12 and 17-19, respectively.

It means that after this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, F1 will not return until early May with the Miami Grand Prix.

Four-time F1 champion Verstappen, though, is determined to stay busy.

Following his qualifying for the race at Suzuka, where the Dutchman suffered the misery of being knocked out in Q2, he has revealed he will take part in the qualifying races for the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

As part of his preparations for competing in that race, Verstappen and team-mates Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon won a Nordschleife NLS2 race last weekend in their Mercedes GT3 by 59 seconds, only to later be disqualified for using an additional set of tyres.

The qualifying races for the 24 Hours consist of two four-hour events on April 18 and 19, the weekend on which the Saudi Arabian GP would have taken place.

Verstappen, though, will not race in NLS3 on April 11-14 as his team is competing at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France that weekend.

He added, however, that for 24 Hours qualifying, "At the moment, there is only Lucas in the car, so I would feel a bit sorry for him if he has to do everything by himself, because Dani and Jules cannot do it.

"It would make sense if I could do it."

Juncadella and Gounon are competing in the 6 Hours of Imola that weekend for Genesis and Alpine, respectively.