Why Max Verstappen suffered Nordschleife disqualification explained

The trio shared a Verstappen Racing Mercedes GT3 across the four-hour race, which Verstappen himself put on pole position by over two seconds.

It was Verstappen who completed the first and final stints, the latter more relaxed than the former after losing the lead at the start of the race.

An intense battle with the #16 Audi took place during the opening stint, before Verstappen retook the lead moments before both cars dived into the pit lane for the first driver change.

The remainder of the race was more straightforward for the four-time world champion's outfit, which secured victory by 59 seconds.

Initially, it marked a second consecutive GT3 win at the iconic venue for Verstappen, before post-race checks led to the team’s disqualification.

It was later revealed that, across qualifying and the race, the outfit had used seven sets of tyres, while the legal limit was six.

Disqualification was the obvious penalty and was quickly accepted by the team. The mistake was not driver error, but instead an error by the garage crew.

Team principal Christian Hohendael revealed that there had been a flaw in the team’s procedures, which resulted in an incorrect number of tyre sets being used.

The mistake itself was made during qualifying, a session which featured several driver and tyre changes in a short period of time.

It was discovered via the technical commission’s tyre app that seven sets, rather than six, had been used, triggering the disqualification.