Few moments in endurance racing are as cruel as losing a race in its final hours — especially when you are leading comfortably, driving conservatively, and running a brand-new component on the very part that fails. That is exactly what happened to the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry at the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours, and Daniel Juncadella, who was behind the wheel when it all unravelled, is clear: there is nobody to blame.

A Dominant Run Cut Short

From the moment the sun began to set on Saturday evening, the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 had been at the sharp end. Shared by Max Verstappen, Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Lucas Auer, the car started from fourth on the grid and quickly moved to the front, running in a closely contested 1-2 with the sister #80 Mercedes for much of the race.

Verstappen delivered a remarkable debut performance at the Nordschleife. During his night-driving stint, the four-time Formula 1 world champion extended the car’s lead to nearly 30 seconds over the #80 — a gap that made victory feel all but assured. He then handed back to Juncadella for what was expected to be a routine final stint before Verstappen returned to take the chequered flag.

“That’s it. A really tough one to take. From the lead, our car suffered a broken driveshaft, ending our fight for the win. Thank you all for your support throughout the weekend.” — Max Verstappen, via social media

When the ABS Warning Became Something Much Worse

Just after the handover, the trouble began. Juncadella’s dashboard lit up with an ABS warning — initially interpreted by the team as a possible electrical reset issue. Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing, explained the unfolding of events:

“Just after the pitstop, Danny reported some noise from the rear right, and first of all we had an ABS failure, which led us to assume an electrical failure — something we could reset. We tried to recover in two laps and let him out because it was not so much influencing the driving.” — Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing

Two laps later, however, the situation had escalated dramatically. Growing noises and vibrations from the rear of the car forced Juncadella to slow down and limp the car back to the pits. There, mechanics found the full extent of the damage: a catastrophic driveshaft failure on the rear right, which had caused significant collateral damage to the entire rear axle.

Juncadella Rules Out Contact, Points to Pure Bad Luck

Almost immediately, speculation arose in the paddock about whether the failure could be linked to earlier on-track contact. During the night stint, Verstappen had been involved in a wheel-to-wheel clash with Maro Engel — the very driver who would later guide the #80 Mercedes to victory. Some observers pointed to this incident as a possible root cause of the mechanical issues that appeared hours later.

Juncadella firmly dismissed the theory. There was also a separate question about contact between Juncadella himself and the #84 Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghini earlier in the race, but he was equally dismissive:

“No, I don’t think so. That was many hours earlier. I think it would be too much to say it was caused by that. That’s motorsport. Unfortunately, it happened to us today, but I don’t think there’s anybody to blame.” — Daniel Juncadella

The Spaniard went further, pointing to the conditions in which the failure occurred as evidence of its random, unlucky nature:

“I think it’s just bad luck. It’s a mechanical failure. The driveshaft was completely new. On top of that, we had actually been driving very carefully for the last six or seven hours because both cars were in such a strong position and there was no need to take unnecessary risks. We weren’t abusing the kerbs, we were being careful — and it still happened.” — Daniel Juncadella

Juncadella also noted that the driveshaft failure itself had likely triggered a cascade: the damage probably created the electronic issue that confused the ABS systems and caused them to shut off — explaining why the initial warning appeared to be electrical before the real mechanical cause became clear.

The Team Pressed On — For the Fans

Despite the scale of the damage and the obvious disappointment, Winward Racing chose to repair the car and return it to the track for the final laps. Team principal Steve Buschmann confirmed there was no contact or collision involved in the failure, and the team’s sporting director offered context on the decision to keep going:

“We’ve spoken to Max, we’ve spoken to the other drivers, and of course, everyone is mega disappointed, especially after fighting for the lead for so long. But we’ve decided that we are going to fix the car and go back out for the final laps to present it to the fans.” — Alexander Wendl, Winward Racing

Engel and the #80 Inherit the Victory

With the #3 car sidelined for the better part of an hour, the #80 Mercedes — driven by Maro Engel, Maxime Martin, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz — inherited a lead of more than five minutes and never looked back. The car crossed the line 1 minute 18 seconds ahead of the second-placed Lamborghini, giving Mercedes its first Nürburgring 24-hour victory since 2016.

For Verstappen, who had spent thousands of laps preparing on the simulator and arrived at the Nordschleife with a genuine shot at winning on debut, the result was a painful lesson in the unforgiving nature of endurance racing. He and his co-drivers vowed to return and try again — but on this occasion, the Nürburgring simply had the last word.