Mercedes factory driver Dani Juncadella has called out questions about Max Verstappen’s inexperience after motorsport commentator Peter Snowdon argued that he is the weaker link in their Nurburgring 24 Hours team. Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer are sharing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with the four-time Formula 1 champion, with Verstappen being the only one without any 24-hour experience after only getting his FIA Platinum licence last year.

Gounon, Juncadella and Verstappen finished first in the second race of the 2026 Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) season at the Nordschleife before being disqualified for using too many sets of tyres, seven instead of the six allowed. Mercedes acknowledged that they made a mistake during qualifying; however, the team still celebrated completing the four-hour event around the Nurburgring’s 15.5-mile circuit after finishing over a minute faster than anyone else.

Snowdon, though, suggested Verstappen would be a weaker link in the Nurburgring 24 Hours. He said: “Verstappen is arguably the weaker link because he hasn’t had 24-hour experience, whereas the others have, and there’s just no insight, so it will be interesting to see how much he does at night. I’m not saying he’s going to be slow or anything, but that is credit to the strength of the other team-mates that he’s arguably, perhaps the weakest link at night, in that car, or if it rains.”

Juncadella has now responded to a post on X asking whether Verstappen’s lack of experience will hurt him. It also included the quote attributed to Snowdon: “In this lineup, Verstappen is arguably the weaker link.”

The FIA World Endurance Championship driver said: “Took him 2 laps to be on pace on Friday. Pole by some margin. Drove a full stint within inches of the leader (one of the best GT3 drivers in the NBR) & got past last lap. Sent it left, right, center like a maniac in traffic. I think you should sit this one out.”

He later clarified that his comment was about the post asking whether Verstappen’s inexperience would hurt him, not about what Snowdon said. Juncadella said in a separate post: “Actually, my roast is very much towards this clickbait account…”

Gounon also spoke highly of Verstappen afterwards, saying: “Max is just so amazing, so humble. I just feel like I have a top team-mate next to me. That’s the thing, he’s just… it’s Max. There’s no superlative for him.”

Verstappen Racing said after the race: “Tough outcome, but we keep moving. A lot to take from the weekend and plenty to look forward to.”

Head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing Stefan Wendl added: “The NLS weekend will remain in our memories for a long time. We saw pure racing on the track, experienced an extraordinary day in terms of atmosphere and were initially delighted with the supposed race victory.