Driveshaft failure robs Max Verstappen of almost certain win at the Nurburgring.

Starting from fourth on the grid, the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car first took the lead around three hours into the race. In the hours that followed, a record 352,000 crowd watched the #3 Mercedes battle its sister car #80, with the lead repeatedly changing hands.

In seemingly ever-changing conditions, Verstappen and his co-drivers, Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer, gave it everything, though the four-time world champion almost came to grief when making a move on Christian Engelhart's Lamborghini as the pair battled for ninth.

All over the back of the Lamborghini, Verstappen momentarily struggled with Mercedes, which was heavily fuelled having just pitted, hence the drop down the order.

The front wheels lifted and the Mercedes appeared to head towards the barriers but somehow the Dutchman kept it under control and merely brushed the Armco.

"I had a little moment but you have to keep yourself together and stay calm," he subsequently told TV reporters.

Over the course of the race, Verstappen completed three double-stints and was leading by around 30s when he made his final stop to hand over to Juncadella.

While it was presumed that Verstappen would take the wheel for the final hour, such thoughts were abandoned when, three hours from the finish, Juncadella, whilst still leading, made an unscheduled pit stop after receiving an ABS warning. On pitting however it was clear that the issue was more serious.

"Just after the pit stop Dani reported some noise from the rear right, and first of all we had an ABS failure, which leads us to assume an electric failure-something we could reset," said Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing. "We tried to recover in two laps and left him out because it was not so much influencing the driving.

"But then he recognized more and more noise, vibrations, and suddenly had to slow down to save the car, and limped it to the pits. And here in the pits we saw that the whole rear axle had a major damage resulting from a driveshaft failure. It needs us to change the whole rear axle now which takes whatever, 45 minutes or an hour."

Though the Spaniard initially remained in the car, as it tumbled down the order it became clear that all was lost.

"We spoke with Max and the other three drivers and everybody is so much disappointed," said Wendl. "But we said let's send this beautiful car out again at the last two or three laps and present it to the fans."

"The race went so well for us," said Juncadella. "We had a good start, great stints, the decision for rain tyres at the right moment. We had built up a two-minute lead over everyone else.

"Just a dream race, but unfortunately it was three hours too short and three hours too long for us. But that's just how it is in racing."

"We will be back mate," said Verstappen on social media, the Dutchman, though disappointed with the result, clearly delighted with the overall experience.

"I think it's just the competition, and the endurance style of racing where you share with team-mates," said the four-time world champion. "The 24-hour race here, the track is super-challenging, so it's just the whole combo."

Addressing the fans, he posted: "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.

"Thank you to all of you for the immense support we've felt this week. Absolutely gutted we couldn't bring it home, but that's racing. Until the next one."

The #80 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Engel, Stolz, Schiller and Martin went on to win the race, ahead of the #84 Lamborghini of Engstler, Bortolotti and Niederhauser, with the Aston Martin of Krognes, Drudi and Thiim finishing third.

Pictures copyright Verstappen.com