This weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia will be the second of seven consecutive race weekends for Max Verstappen after he confirmed he has added a GT race at Portimão to his schedule for later this month.
Verstappen's GT team, Verstappen Racing, is participating in the GT World Challenge this year, but two of its drivers, Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon, have a World Endurance Championship calendar clash with the Portuguese round on Oct. 18.
The race at Portimão does not clash with an F1 weekend -- falling between the Singapore Grand Prix and U.S. Grand Prix -- and Verstappen has confirmed he will step in to make sure his team has a full driver line-up.
"I know that two of my drivers won't be part of the line-up, so two other drivers need to step in and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
"It's going to be a busy seven weeks, but we'll do it and I enjoy it anyway. So, yeah. Let's see what we can do there."
F1 is in the midst of one of its most intense periods of races in its 76-year history, with this weekend's race in Malaysia the second of nine scheduled grands prix in 11 weeks.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally meant to go ahead in April, but was cancelled due to the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran in the region.
Rather than scrap the round altogether, Bahrain and F1 came to an agreement with Malaysia to host the race 4,000 miles away at the Sepang International Circuit this weekend.
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When asked how he was coping with the upcoming flurry of races, Verstappen joked that his apathy towards F1's controversial power unit regulations this year had made it easier to get in the right headspace.
"I think I had four or five months of very intense preparation -- deep mental preparation of not giving an F," he said with a smile on his face. "So, yeah, I just rock up."
Verstappen also raced for his GT team at this year's Nürburgring 24 Hours, which he has since referenced as the highlight of his 2026 season to date.
His best results in F1 this year have been four second place finishes in Austria, Hungary, Spain and Azerbaijan, but he remains hopeful he can go one better and win a grand prix before the end of 2026.
"I'm trying everything I can," he said. "We are scoring, of course, quite a few podiums now, but I want to win. That's what I'm here for.
"And I'm getting close, but I want to at least win one race this year. So I hope we can do it, of course, at some point. But yeah, we have some solid results."