Kimi Antonelli sparks Max Verstappen team-up hopes as he watches Nürburgring race

Formula 1 fans were left hoping Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen could team up in the future as the Italian driver watched the four-time champion in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS).

Verstappen had initially taken the win at the Nürburgring on Saturday along with his team-mates Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella, but the trio was later disqualified after being found to have used seven sets of tyres, exceeding the strict limit of six allowed for race day.

Ahead of the race weekend, Antonelli had revealed that he would love to team up with Verstappen for an endurance race one day, and he followed this up by watching the NLS round on his week off from F1 racing.

"No surprise, as Kimi stated he would like to do GT3 with Max," one fan commented on Reddit, while another responded: "Add Fernando [Alonso], and head off to Le Mans!"

"I hope future generations of F1 drivers will explore other racing when they get the leverage in contract talks," one fan wrote, and another added: "I am praying for a Kimi x Max team-up in sports cars at some point."

#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon

Photo by: Max Verstappen

Someone else posted: "Kimi and Max are truly very passionate about racing. They eat, talk and live about racing. They basically follow a lot of other series outside of F1. And that’s why they get along very well."

"That’s his grid dad! Their friendship is so sweet, and I love the show of support/interest after Kimi and tons of other young drivers have said Max is a great guy and mentor that always reaches out to give advice and answer their questions. I wonder if others on the grid are also watching but not showing it publicly," wrote another fan.

Another fan simply commented, "ONE OF US."